Am I right for Nursing Informatics? Please weigh in.

Greetings Mesomorph,


Yes we call ourselves Informaticists , Informatics Nurses, Healthcare Information Systems Professionals, Geeks, and Techies to name a few. We also consider ourselves "clinicians" too.
To see if your salary expectation are realist, take a look at the HIMSS 2008 Compensation Survey
http://www.himss.org/surveys/compens...lData.asp?ID=6

I think you need to learn more about the specialty and with that knowlede then decide what your next career path should be BEFORE investing in an advance degree. having a degree in this specialty does not automatically guarantee you a job. Please read other posts on this site to learm more about the specialty.

What exactly is it you want to do in this specialty? Do you want to work for a hospital in the informaiton systems department as a clinical applications trainer? Do you want to work as an analyst building systems? Do you want to work for a vendor implementing systems or testing and designing systems or selling systems? Do you want to work for a standards organization,helping develop and implement terminology standards?

That is correct you do not have to be a programmer to practice in this specialty. Related to what "we do all day", take a look at: "A Day in The Life..."
http://allnurses.com/nursing-informa...fe-343098.html

This is just one role............ and I've held numerous roles in this specialty. I've been a Systems Trainer, a Project Manager, the Informatics Coordinator, a Consultant, an Analyst, a Telehealth Nurse, the Manager of Informatics, a Clinical Applications Specialist.

AMIA (http://www.amia.org/working-group-nu...ormatics-roles), ANIA,HIMSS, etc all have job descriptions on roles within NI. I've attached a few job descriptions also.
Good Luck and let me know if you need anything else.

"Might this be a good field for me? What do you all do on a day-to-day basis?"

Yes, this field would be excellent for you. If i were in your shoes, I would clean up the resume, and start sending it out. In this field many times they are looking for a 'techy' person with an RN degree. Is too bad you don't have much clinical experience, as that would only stand out more, but is definitely not a deterrent in looking for a job. I would go as far as saying that you could find a job without completing the online stuff; but it does require the know how of navigating career boards, etc.

As far as what is done on a day to day basis----that really depends on the job; there are tons of 'things you could be doing.' As rninformatics said, there are numerous roles; you could be hired as a general analyst, but your role might include configuring the application, troubleshooting the application, training staff, gathering requriements from the users, testing new releases, etc. These are the type of roles that don't use programming, but many times a knowledge of databases is helpful; if there is anything I tell people to do is to enroll in a database class (community college), or get a book and teach yourself how to build a database. Of course, that's if you don't already know how. Is good to understand microsoft access, but I would also learn basic SQL.

Also by looking at your experience, I don't see how you haven't applied for other jobs; you have already done the most difficult part of the process and that is, getting a job with no IT experience. Now is just a matter of dusting off the resume and sending it out. Sure, you could sit there and think---well, what do i want to do for my next job? Do I want to be a network person? Do i just want to go out and train people? Do I just want to support an application? However, given the current 'job crisis' you will find a lot of generic jobs out there. Matter of fact, my recruiter friend showed me a list of jobs last week and they were all generic; basically it said, experience building, troubleshooting applications. Granted, it was for a specific software, but the point is that I bet those jobs are a lot more than just building and troubleshooting. And even though they were specific for an application, you can sell yourself by saying that you have traiend yourself in whatever application you're working on now, and that you're a fast learner, etc. Learning applications----all of us can do that.

Don't be apprehensive. You're ideal for the field and is up to you when you want to start looking for a new job. If you need further advice on resume or interviewing, let me know; I have tons of experience in that department too. Good luck, and waste no time.