Hello all,

I am very interested in this field. Can you please describe your first day on the job? also what qualifications did you have prior to starting in this field, also how would you compare this field to other areas of nursing? also what is your nursing background? Thanks in advance. I truly believe this is an exciting field that would bring many rewards and happiness. Don't get me wrong based on my research hard work is part of the game but it's an exciting opportunity.

i started in 2001 in informatics. i was chosen along with a unit clerk and a radiology tech to build order control for our new housewide system. i am a diploma rn, graduated in 1973 (yep i'm older!) and worked primarily med-surg with surgical and orthopedic patients for about 18 years, then i transferred over to our vip suite and took care of all kinds of patients. i got this job because of my interest in computers and documentation. i had helped train staff for our upgrade of the then documentation system we had.

back to 2001, we went to training in mid january to reston va, after an intense week there we came back to work and started working in out test environment and learning how other departments worked. i wish i could say it was glamorous but that would be a lie! hard work but fun too. after our go live in november i stayed on full time, and since have worked on our new documentation system, physician information system and a host of other it applications! at my tender age, i am going back to school for a bsn and hope to complete that before i retire! then the certification.....yep, that's it in a nutshell! good luck to you in your new career!

ALthough i do not start till June 14th (I'll likely post then also), my background is ... I graduated in 1988 as an LPN and worked all over till 2000 when i started at my current workplace. Our clinic went live in 2007 with EPIC. We were the second clinic to go live in the hospital. In fall of 2007 I started back to school for my RN. Although the superuser position was given to a nurse who worked with the supreruser MD, i quickly became the go to person for EPIC. I made powerpoint persentations on how to do certain things and even a spreadsheet for doing chart audits for EPIC. I spearheaded a huge project where our lab was having issues with EPIC and MD orders. When I was in my final months of school they posted the position for system analyst EMR clinical. They wanted a BSN but with my ADN, incredible drive, desire and proven 3 year history as a end user, they picked me for the job!

I'll let you know how the first day or week goes after the 14th start date. (I have been told Madison for training is up as one of the first things i do!)

Gayle

Ok gang! I had my first day in IS as a systems analyst. It was so funny. I realized i had NO computer! It was 3:30 PM before i got it so i spend the day following the other people on my team seeing what they did. second day was kinda slow and i had a few meetings and surfed the EPIC site a bit but my training is the 30th of June in Madison for first round of Ambulatory EPIC training!