Do you need a certain amount of field exp. 1st before you go into N. Informatics?

3 Posts

Hi.. to be more specific about my question, do I need some field experience in hospitals/clinics doing bedside care and the typical nursing duties first before I can get considered for a Nursing Infomatics related job?

Reason I'm asking is because I'm looking to get into it by taking up a Masters in Nursing Informatics (I just recently had my BSN already), but I don't really want my time and resources to go to waste in the end, where I finally get my Masters in N.I. just to find out that most of the job openings for it require "5+ years of clinical experience" or so.

As for getting that sort of experience, that's not going to happen, since the reason I'm looking into N.I. is that I'm trying to avoid bedside nursing like the plague, because it wasn't really my thing to begin with (Got forced into taking up Nursing by my parents because of Lemmings Syndrome.. "Everyone's doing it, so do it too!").

If a Nursing Informatics job really is out of reach without a decent amount of clinical experience, then I'm just thinking now of getting a Medical Technology certification instead, since I find working with laboratories/ computers to be more of my niche. That's only my backup plan for now though, since I want to utilize the BSN I have right now for as much as I possibly can.

Anyway, thanks to any and all replies I'll get for this inquiry