Is there a shortage or glut of nurses in informatics?

Good for her, and your team!

My boss would have been thrilled to find a bright person in-house who was interested in this stuff. Lucky me, she didn't.

Photoshop actually has a pretty steep learning curve...

LOL

Basic excel usage is one thing but I have seen some tricked out spreadsheets that push VBA to the max. HEHEHEH.

You're right! I quit photoshop when our school gave us a free sample of paint shop pro...photoshop was too much too handle for me!

And with excel I stick to basic copy, paste, the function of adding, and some sorting ...so yea, excel can be a beast of a monster to master, especially when i see those brave souls extracting data from databases, etc. But knowing excel goes a long way in the it world; it has saved my life tons of times...excel and access combined!

Living in STL, I'd love to know where those jobs are and how one goes about finding them?!?! I have an IT background, but not so much actual hospital experience yet!!

Pixie, learn your system inside out and befriend someone in the IT dep't. Try to get in as a super-user, someone who trains other users, helps with implementations, etc.

I am always on-line looking at the job postings for the facilities (limited as they are) in my commutable area.

To get into the Healthcare IT field, you do NOT need clinical experience, IF you have IT experirence or you were a superuser with an emr application. In fact you don't even need to be a nurse. It does help if you have some healthcare experience, whether it is in a doctor's office, SNF, or acute care. Most positions want you to have acute care or office experience.

There is at this time NO glut in healthcare IT! However, there is a HUGE need for healthcare IT and many facilities are looking for those who want to get into IT, and are willing to train you. I see numerous ads for anyone with a healthcare background! This means those who do billing in a healthcare setting also.

Search online ads, as there are many out there and you will find what you are looking for. And they are not just in rural areas, but in big cities too! There are opportunities from the northeast to southeast to the southwest, and northwestm, not to mention opportunities overseas.

The biggest asset is a having a degree in heathcare, business, or IT. The second is having a clinical background and being pc savy. Lots of choices out there, just take time and look for exactly what you feel would suit you best.

Talk to an IT recruiter, who can help you find out what is required for the position you might be interested in. Then go after what you want!

Where do we find "IT recruiters"? In the hospitals or out? I'm just not clear if you mean general IT recruiters or in the facilities themselves.

I understand that there are some IT healthcare companies that will hire you also to do training, etc. Now that sounds very interesting to me, coming from a 6-year IT background. I would love to work with users on systems.

There are an ambundance of IT recruiters out there, and you can just google for the application formate you are familiar with. Calll them or email them. Put your resume online using key words that pertain to the application you want to work with. Goggle "IT HEATHCARE RECRUITERS" and you will find numerous agencies for IT.

For nurses or healthcare/clinical google Clinical IT entry level. Use key words for what you are looking for and you find a wealth of information out there.