Entry level jobs in informatics

[h60avtrn]

I am currently working at the bedside as an RN and have been for a little over 3 years in ICU and Med/Surg. This is my second carrer. I was formerly an avionics technician in the Coast Guard. I have been looking to make some career moves and I got into a class for informatics in my RN to BSN cirriculm. I have since fallen in love with the idea of moving into the field of informatics. There is only one probelm...Where is it? I live in a rural area and the largest hospital is only about 250 beds and you say the word informatics and people look at you and tilt their heads like a dog hearing a high pitch noise. I don't have any specific IT training but I am computer savy and not afraid of electronics. I am wondering where I should try and enter the profession and how to enter without the IT experience. It seems that everyone wants a certification but to be able to sit for the certification you have to have logged a couple of thousand hours in an NI or IT field. Am I missing somthing here or is this just impossible. I am willing to travel and have seen several jobs that would require extensive travel but is this necessary to get into the field? Is this even the right door to be going through? I would love to find a mentor and attach myself to them and find the answers but I can't even find someone who knows what it is I'm talking about...that brings me to this forum. Thank you for this forum and please HELP!

Sincerely,

h60avtrn

[h60avtrn]

Just wanted to share and experience I had last week...I attended the southern regional HIMSS conference in Shreveport, La. There was alot of good information presented and I learned alot. I really felt like a fish out of water at first due to the large number of IT people that were in attendance but I soon found some people that I could at least understand what they were saying. I think this career is evolving infront of us and I am really interested to see where it is going to go. This conference was a great way to do some networking though and I would sugest somthing like it for others looking to get into this field. I have found the unsolicited resume to be a somewhat lost cause.

Sincerely,

H60AVTRN

[dave_t]

Thanks h60avtrn! I'll add that website to my research. I really appreciate the share!

Dave

[WDWpixieRN, RN]

I will also say that as someone who recently attended Epic Systems training several times over the past few months that there are a percentage of folks who do NOT have clinical backgrounds and are moving into the healthcare IT field, so it can be done.

My actual clinical experience is limited since I was a fairly recent grad when I moved back in to the IT realm, so it is being done by those with varying experience.

I have also read articles that mention with the push for EHR in this country, we will be seeing many of the displaced IT folks moving in to the healthcare arena due to the demand for technical knowledge as this fields grows faster than we can find combined technical/clinical employees.

Good luck!

[Eishouse]

You are most definitely asking the right questions. You have also gotten good information back from your post. Having spent the last seven years of a 27-year career in nursing in the Informatics field, I have a few comments based on my experiences. First, clinical understanding is everything. If you are not an experienced and thoughtful clinician, you will be unable to support the practice of nursing through Informatics. In addition to clinical skills, you will need skills in politics, finance, education, leadership, complex problem solving, and decompression of hostility. You will also need skills that enable you to visualize, understand, and map workflow processes, as well as being able to facilitate change in those processes when necessary. You will need knowledge of nursing theory, nursing research, and formulation and application of Evidence-Based Practice. You will need familiarity with CMS and Joint Commission regulations, National Patient Safety Goals, Core Measure assessment points, and any other initiatives your hospital targets. You will need to understand how data becomes information, and how information becomes knowledge. You will use all of these skills daily in creating and launching documentation that supports nursing (or RT, PT, Dietary, Pastoral, etc.) practice and provides data-driven decision support, and documentation that targets specific pieces of information that can later be retrieved by query (or input designed to produce specific output). You will spend a lot of time defending nursing to IT professionals who don't understand clinical situations, and to defending Info Services to clinicians who don't like or want computers in their workplace. You will need to understand and explain the dynamics of change to people who don't want to change. You will be a leader in the change process. You will be a liaison between nursing and IT, nursing and Nursing Admin, Nursing Admin and Finance, and many other groupings. When you narrow it down, the three people you need to be are: 1. Nurse 2. Teacher 3. Politician. Good luck!

[bknyrn]

I just read an ad for a IT position for EPIC Implementation at a large hospital nearby. States you do not need IT experience. And they will train you to take EPIC certification. I'm ok with computer skills, not a "super user". Along with the resume it asks about salary requirements. What range does an IT make? Just wondering because it sounds interesting.

Thanks!

[RN in the D]

Great site. Thank you for all of the wonderful input. I am a 58 year old med surg nurse with over 15 years of clinical experience. I am trying to decide which route to take as I return to school and am requesting assistance. I am an electronic technician and I also hold a BA. Nursing Informatics is a brand new field for me, one, I wish I had known about earlier in my career. I have the option of a BSN with an informatics cert or MSN with informatics speciality. At this stage in life and with electronic documentation conversion taking place by 2010, does it make since to spend 3 years pursuing the MSN or 2 years with the BSN and informatics cert? Would taking the longer route mean I missed the boat? There is such a wealth of knowledge on the site, I would really appreciate your input. Thank you all in advance.

[Eishouse]

I just read an ad for a IT position for EPIC Implementation at a large hospital nearby. States you do not need IT experience. And they will train you to take EPIC certification. I'm ok with computer skills, not a "super user". Along with the resume it asks about salary requirements. What range does an IT make? Just wondering because it sounds interesting.

Thanks!

Hi, bknyrn -

You should expect to be paid similarly to clinicians. If you had an Informatics certification or MSN with Informatics specialty, you should expect to be paid similarly to Clinical Specialists.

[Eishouse]

Hi RN in the D,

I love this site, too. You sound like a great Informatics nurse in the making! Are you looking at one of the bridge MSN programs that let you skip the BSN? I'm enrolled at Walden University, one class short of finishing the first year. Then I have 1 year of core curriculum for MSN students, and then a year in the Informatics specialty classes. It has been great so far, and I'm doing well. I hadn't been in school in 26 years when I started, so was a little worried about my ability to keep up, but I haven't had any problems.

In terms of credentials, I think the MSN is always more valuable, although getting the Informatics certification is also a big deal. I do think the MSN gives you more diverse opportunities. I don't think you will miss the boat - Healthcare Info Tech is growing exponentially, and will not ever go away. There is a great need for clinicians and critical thinkers to keep the industry focused on what matters - the best outcome for the patient.

I wish you the best with whichever path you choose.

[RN in the D]

Thank you EileenRN for your input. Yes, I am looking at the bridge program at Walden. I have just finished statistics,which was my only gen ed class and now have to decide which program path I am going pursue. If you don't mind sharing, how did you get into the field?

[rninformatics, DNP, RN]

What range does an IT make? Just wondering because it sounds interesting.

Thanks!

Since you have no HIT, Epic or information systems implementation experience the range is probably comparible to the salary of an experienced staff nurse...............that is, if you have experience as a staff nurse??

To see salary ranges of experienced informatics nurses check out attached 2007 HIMSS survey slide #18

Nursing_Informatics_Survey2007.pdf

[rninformatics, DNP, RN]

Since you are a seasoned and experienced clinican and you are not sure exactly what it is (what role, etc) you want to do in Informatics what about a compromise??

What about pursuing the BSN and Informatics Nurse cert and/while attempting to get an entry level job to get experience in HIT/NI/HIS. Then practicing as an informaticist for a while and then seeing if it is worth your wile to go for the graduate level degree.

I know many nurses who have no HIT/NI/HIS experience and think that getting a graduate degree will secure them a job in this specialty but the reality is that if you do have experience working in informatics/HIT its harder to get your foot in the door even if you are an experienced clinican/RN. Without the HIT/NI/HIS/IT experience with either degree or cert the chances are extremly slim that you would secure more than an entry level position as again you have no previous HIT/NI/HIS/IT, etc experience.

58 year old med surg nurse with over 15 years of clinical experience. I am trying to decide which route to take , does it make since to spend 3 years pursuing the MSN or 2 years with the BSN and informatics cert? Would taking the longer route mean I missed the boat? There is such a wealth of knowledge on the site, I would really appreciate your input. Thank you all in advance.

[Eishouse]

Re: Entry level jobs in informatics Thank you EileenRN for your input. Yes, I am looking at the bridge program at Walden. I have just finished statistics,which was my only gen ed class and now have to decide which program path I am going pursue. If you don't mind sharing, how did you get into the field?

My arrival in the field happened because I stomped into IS demanding to know who had made such a mess of our charting. This was 7 years ago. Nobody in the facility was willing to say the "Informatics" word until last year. They gave me a cubicle, a few photocopied pages from the System Administrator's handbook, changed my access from RN to System Administrator, and told me to figure it out, and to call McKesson if I had any questions. They called me a Clinical Systems Coordinator and put me on a bunch of committees. After I discovered McKesson's Download Central site, I got all the manuals I needed, including training manuals.That happened right after I rewrote the training manuals we had because they didn't make sense.The department had a lot of potlucks and were pretty friendly in general, but nobody knew anthing about my system, so I practiced trial and error, building charting screens, designing reports, fixing the parts I had come to complain about, and getting the complaints from the whole house. That's kind of how it's been the last seven years.