MIS minor or IT certs helpful to get in the door?

[Murse901, MSN, RN]

Hello all. I apologize if this question has been covered before. I'm betting it has, but I haven't been able to find anything.

My hospital is planning on a major paper-to-electronic overhaul in late 2012 (which means it'll probably be put off until 2013). Anyway, I'm anticipating one or more NI positions opening in advance of the transition. However, I won't have much RN experience at that time (will probably have about a year and a half by the time the positions open, but I also have 5 years' LPN experience prior).

I'm working on finishing up my BSN and will hopefully be done in a couple more semesters. I'm trying to find out ways to make myself more marketable, though.

Would anyone recommend tacking a minor in MIS onto my BSN? Looking at other openings for my organization, it says that they prefer either a Bachelor's in Nursing, IT, MIS, or related. Is a minor going to do anything at all for me?

Also, are there any IT certifications that would be helpful in securing a position? In a former life, I had pursued IT and grabbed a bunch of CompTIA certs and now-expired MS certs, but I know that those aren't really geared toward what NI does. And the actual NI RN-BC cert requires NI experience. Any ideas?

[ikarus01]

I'll bite since there are no replies...

You mentioned in a previous life you pursued IT---what type of experience do you have then in IT?

And the certificate question...this has been gone over in the forum before. I specifically recommend that once you work as a nurse, you're better off trying to get involved with a project via a committee or by volunteering as a superuser or in any other way that will give you some hands on experience in informatics.

I would only pursue a certificate if I knew that the school that offered it is working with hospitals/vendors that are placing students in a job or at least giving them the chance to interview for a job.

Just recently somebody posted that they are getting a certificate but because they have no prior experience doing informatics, this person is having a hard time getting a job because now many jobs out there want informatics experience. And that's why again I say, better off trying to get real life experience once you start working as a nurse than going for a certificate.

Now, if you have experience in informatics, and then you get a certificate, that would be solid. However, if you have no experience and you get a certificate....well, things might be rough. I'm not going to say impossible, but just not so easy as many believe, unless of course the school is already partnered with a hospital/vendor that is going to hire qualifying students.

[Murse901, MSN, RN]

I'll bite since there are no replies...

You mentioned in a previous life you pursued IT---what type of experience do you have then in IT?

About a year of phone-based ISP tech support and another two years of on-site end user support. I know it's not impressive by any stretch of the imagination, but a bit more IT experience than the average nurse has.

And the certificate question...this has been gone over in the forum before. I specifically recommend that once you work as a nurse, you're better off trying to get involved with a project via a committee or by volunteering as a superuser or in any other way that will give you some hands on experience in informatics.

That's a good suggestion, but it almost seems like a catch-22. I could volunteer to be a superuser for the paper-to-EMR project that will be coming out next year. However, they will likely already have the NI positions posted prior to that happening.

. . . Now, if you have experience in informatics, and then you get a certificate, that would be solid. However, if you have no experience and you get a certificate....well, things might be rough. I'm not going to say impossible, but just not so easy as many believe, unless of course the school is already partnered with a hospital/vendor that is going to hire qualifying students.

I completely agree. Certification without experience is crap, which is why there were so many people at the turn of the century shelling out $$$ for IT certifications and ending up with no job to show for it. That's part of the reason I jumped ship on IT. Even with a little support experience and certs, I couldn't get any higher on the career ladder unless I wanted to go back and get a BS (which wasn't an option at the time if I wanted to keep a full-time job - another catch-22).

Thanks for the input. I'll do the SuperUser thing and see where it leads.

[ikarus01]

About a year of phone-based ISP tech support and another two years of on-site end user support. I know it's not impressive by any stretch of the imagination, but a bit more IT experience than the average nurse has.

Support is always good. Any EMR implementation always requires support, and if you work for a hospital that doesn't have support contracted out to a vendor, most analysts have to do some type of oncall support so that is good experience that you can later sell on your resume.

That's a good suggestion, but it almost seems like a catch-22. I could volunteer to be a superuser for the paper-to-EMR project that will be coming out next year. However, they will likely already have the NI positions posted prior to that happening.

Assuming that you go to the IT/Informatics manager and say, I want to be a superuser and they say no, what you can also do is volunteer to be a member of the committee that will meet with IT/informatics to map out the project. I cannot tell you how many times we had to go out hounding nurses to be on these meetings and even when some said they would show up, many didn't because nobody wants to come on their day off to be part of these meetings, or nobody wants to come before their shift, or stay after work, etc.

Also, even if they have NI positions listed, you must understand that many floors still want to have their "superuser." They don't have to be related to the informatics dept, but some nurses become adept at using their EMR, so the floor manager will come to them and say, "we got a new hire, do you mind helping them out with the electronic charting?" So you see, you can be a floor's superuser without being in the IT/Informatics dept and then you can use this experience in your resume. You just have to think outside the box, and hustle hustle hustle.