Ok...

My mom has been pushing me to look at Nursing Informatics. The educator where I recently started my Med/Surg job said the same thing. I really don't want to get the MSN in Informatics if I can't get a job in it!

So, those of you who hire:

My original degree is in Electrical Engineering (Bachelors). I spent 18 yrs in IT in mainframes. Of course, that includes multiple systems, integrating with web technologies, SQL and the like. My work was in development (coding) and production support. I got my ADN in Nursing and currently work on a Med/Surg floor.

If I start the program with the University of South Alabama this spring, I would complete the MSN in 5 semesters so I should be done Aug 2013. I would have over 2.5 yrs clinical experience.

Would you seriously consider hiring me?

If I start the program with the University of South Alabama this spring, I would complete the MSN in 5 semesters so I should be done Aug 2013. I would have over 2.5 yrs clinical experience.

Would you seriously consider hiring me?

Hello,

I had to answer cause i wanted to see if I got the riddle correct.

If by august 2013 you will have 2.5 years of clinical experience---does this mean that right now you have about 10 months of clinical experience?

Based on previous experience being involved in hiring candidates with an engineering degree and a nursing degree, I would say that yes, you would be hired in a heartbeat. Only thing that's different in your situation is the ADN as the other candidates I saw did have a BSN, but they were a hot commodity because of their IT and clinical experience.

I would also add that a solid year of clinical experience might look better in the resume and this is really a preference of hiring managers/directors.

And if I got the riddle right---Why not apply for a job now and see how far you get in the process?

Oh, and if you know SQL, you're on a different league than a lot of informaticists out there.

Did someone say riddle? I like riddles too

Agree with pretty much eveything Ikarus wrote except I would have to say whether or not I hired you would depend on the position I needed to fill.

Whether or not the position/role was with a hospital, physician practice, IDN, consulting company or with a vendor.

I did not read where you have any experience working (or even as a super user) with any particular vendor product??

Riddle me that:lol2:

Hello,

I had to answer cause i wanted to see if I got the riddle correct.

If by august 2013 you will have 2.5 years of clinical experience---does this mean that right now you have about 10 months of clinical experience?

Based on previous experience being involved in hiring candidates with an engineering degree and a nursing degree, I would say that yes, you would be hired in a heartbeat. Only thing that's different in your situation is the ADN as the other candidates I saw did have a BSN, but they were a hot commodity because of their IT and clinical experience.

I would also add that a solid year of clinical experience might look better in the resume and this is really a preference of hiring managers/directors.

And if I got the riddle right---Why not apply for a job now and see how far you get in the process?

Oh, and if you know SQL, you're on a different league than a lot of informaticists out there.

Did someone say riddle? I like riddles too

Agree with pretty much eveything Ikarus wrote except I would have to say whether or not I hired you would depend on the position I needed to fill.

Yea, I should clarify.

I'm talking about "generic" entry level informatics position. At least when I have been involved in the process of hiring entry level candidates, we have considered candidates with similar experience for positions like clinical analyst, informatics analyst, etc; and even though these candidates were not involved in a clinical implementation or didn't have super user experience, their prior IT experience was enough evidence (at least to our group) that they could function in a hospital implementing clinical applications.

Then it came down to, who would fit in best in the culture of that specific employer...

Thank you both for your insight.

Yes, I am a new grad. My first position was in LTC. It was a horror position for me and I chose to leave after 60 days. I was able to get a job with a hospital in Med/Surg. I have not had super user experience in the hospital setting....yet. The LTC implemented their EMR during my orientation (5 days) and I was used by the facility to help coach the other new users of the EMR system. My current facility is still on paper charts and we are supposed to covert to EMR's soon. I am planning to volunteer to assist in the implementation of the new system.

In my former career, I was responsible for major system implementations which included educating the users. I also took feedback and then made changes to the system to improve performance. I have plenty of vendor experience, just not in medical. I also was on-call and would fix issues that would come up. I also designed reports in both the Mainframe environment and using Microsoft Access to generate reports. We also would comma delimit an output that would then be imported into Excel for reporting purposes.

I have plenty of experience working with executive management and the user community in developing a product that would best suit their needs and would subsequently tailor it if they found it necessary.

When I was participating in the roll out of the EMAR/EMR's system at the LTC....all I could think about was how much better I could have designed it!

I am looking forward to completing the MSN! The school stated that the first 2 terms would be to complete the BSN level work prior to the MS level Informatics and associated coursework.

Thanks for your input! It is very much appreciated!

Okay, I've never head of an engineer leap to nursing, would you expand upon that?

If you went to work for the veterans admi hospitals or systems you would get hired and paid very well. They have a very sophisticated computer system CPRS vista and need RN CACS

You might want to also consider working for a vendor either in R&D, support, or quality. I work for a vendor, and we have nurses who earned engineer/CS degrees later as well as engineers who later became nurses. They work as business analyst, support engineers, quality engineers, and R&D developers. These positions are technical positions in which a clinical background is a great advantage. The master's might not be required. Also, you would have the opportunity to make the systems better. These are positions for engineers/developers in healthcare IT vendors, and not positions for nurses. You may want to check the jobsites looking for these type of positions.