From IT to RN and now back to IT/IS

[Bob_N_VA]

It's been a while since I posted last. I had been working in many different areas of computers and IT since I got out of the Navy back a few years. Mostly I worked as a government contractor though I also worked in private industry for about 4 years which was my favorite job. About 5 years ago, I got fed up with the contracting world and decided to go back to school to do something different. So I decided to become a nurse.

I finished up with school and got my RN the beginning of 2013. Besides volunteering at a free clinic, I worked on a Cardiac unit (not my cup of tea, way to stressful for this old dog) and in Rehab with ortho and spinal injury patients for most of that two years. While I liked aspects of working on a nursing floor, there were parts that were tough. Working every other weekend, holidays and rotating shifts got old fairly fast.

I was also facing the dilemma of not having a BSN since I was a diploma nurse from a hospital program and most of the employers here were requiring a BSN within 5 years of hiring on. I have a BA degree, but that didn't count with any of them. I didn't relish the thought of going back to get another degree, which would probably not gotten me much if any more pay over what they pay RN's here. And since I'm no spring chicken, I would probably have been over 60 by the time I finished it up.

For the last year then, I tried in vein to find a position that would lose the nights and weekends without much luck. Two months ago I happened on an ad with the local childrens hospital for a Nursing Informatics job. Reading the job description, there was nothing they wanted that I didn't have. A recruiter called me within a day or two and talked my ear off about the position and said she would pass it on to the hiring manager. I was stoked. After a week or so not hearing anything and finally talking with the recruiter I was told that the manager had my resume and would call me. Don't call us, we'll call you. Oh well, not every line you cast will get you a fish, let alone a nibble.

At that point I also noticed that the same hospital was advertising for clinical applications specialists with some sort of clinical experience. I was good on the IT experience and figured being an RN covered the clinical side. So I applied. The next day I got a call from the hiring manager who told me I would be a great fit for the job. So we set up an interview for that next week. In the meantime I also heard from the NI manager and we set up an interview for the next day. Now I was stoked.

The interview for the App specialist went well. The hiring manager was also an RN and we had similar work experiences as well as similar age. I interviewed with potential peers first and then with management. Overall I was there for about 2.5 hours.

The second interview for NI took all of a half hour. I met with the hiring manager who took me into her managers office and we spoke for a bit. Neither one asked too many questions and when I asked what their timeline was for a decision, I was told that they also had an internal candidate to talk to. So much for that job.

After about a month I finally got a second interview. I had almost given up hope but emailed the hiring manager asking for a straight answer and he told me they were still interested and to hang tight. The second interview went well and I got an offer a week later that I was very pleased with. No weekends, holidays, nights and oncall once every 3-4 months. I started about a month ago and while I do miss some parts of working with patients, I'm learning so much working on this new system.

So what can I pass on to folks that take the time to read all this.

• First, be persistent. Very rarely do you find your dream job the first time out.
  
• As one older nurse at my doctors office told me, you need to find your niche, the place or occupation where you can be happy and productive, or at the very least, not stressed out all the time.
  
• You may have to move away from working with patients, but that experience is still very valuable.
  
• Never squander an opportunity to interview, even if you think you don't have a shot. It's all valuable experience whether you land the job or not.
  
• Follow up every interview with a thankyou note or email. Get business cards or at least contact information.
  
• Show up to the interviews with extra copies of your resume too.
  
• Stay positive
  

So now that I'm working in this new environment, here is what I have been able to glean about what my position as a clinical software support vs. nursing informatics vs. clinicians and everybody on the other end of the phone.

We respond to requests for help with the software that run the gamut of why is my system frozen, why am I missing things that I saved, why can't I print or can you unlock my pt's record. We also remotely configure printers, cycle servers, verify user roles and troubleshoot problems to determine whether they are hardware, network or stem from other systems we don't directly support. We do get quite a few calls from folks on the floor that don't understand how the software supports their workflow and are looking for us to tell them how to do their job. This is where nursing or ambulatory informatics should come in, though many times they don't. But this is where having a nursing background helps, in that it gives me an understanding of what they are facing. I never worked as a nurse in this hospital, so some of their procedures are different from the other two places I worked. As it is, I am actually the 4th RN in my group of about 20 folks, two who are managers.

I'm sure as I get more experience here I'll get a better feel for how I can utilize both sides of my background. I'm just starting to be able to field calls and work with all the online tools to do this job, it's pretty overwhelming at times. We have a "call book" that must have over 500 documents in it and isnt all that logically organized. Like being a good nurse, this job takes time and experience.

I could write more, but it's getting late. Thanks for reading, and if anybody has a question about what life in the clinical support trenches is like, just ask.

[theantichick]

Thanks for the experience. I'm also an IT refugee... 20 years in reporting and data warehousing. I have been keeping informatics as an option for my career, but am of two minds about going back behind a computer screen. Right now I'm enjoying ER and planning to become an NP, which is really what I want to do, but every time I turn around I see the desperate need for my IT skills and experience combined with the clinical, and feel like I should go where I'm needed instead of where I want to.

[Bob_N_VA]

If I were 10 or 15 years younger, about your age or a bit younger, I probably would already have gotten into a NP program or some other higher education program in Nursing. All through school people would tell me I could always combine the two, but I didn't pay it that much attention. That's not why I went back to school I would tell myself. But I also thought I would end up in the ED or some other highly acute care and after a stint in the cardiac unit, I knew I wasn't cut out for it.

So I would say to you and anybody else, follow your heart, but don't ignore the signs if you're not happy where you are.

[wossaa]

Thanks Bob! I really enjoyed and appreciate your long posts above. Before getting in nursing school, I desired to find an area where I could combine nursing with computers. I did IT a little before I went into nursing. I'm in management at a SNF now and I don't enjoy it. I like the fact that it's busy and I don't have to sit watching the clock; but I have no enjoyment of it. But only one month into it. I've also always wanted better work hours/schedules unlike what norm nursing jobs offer. I don't have to work weekends or holidays, but on call twice weekly. It's a 9hr workday which I don't care for. I know most nurses work or are accustomed to twelve hour shifts but it's not for me. I believe work comes after family. I also believe there's got to be something better than this.

Thank you for sharing.

[Bob_N_VA]

Wossaaa (I'd use your first name, but I don't know it) How long have you been a nurse, and where else have you worked or is this you first job? I'm not sure I would have liked a SNF, even if I was working in management. I'm guessing you have LPN's and CNA's you supervise plus working to keep things smooth with the pts?

9 hours is about right for an 8 hour shift, you usually put in about a half hour past the shift finishing up the charting. I don't care for the 12 hour shifts either, they usually end up at about 13+ hours.

Most new nurses move around a bit till they find a spot that suits them. Generally though you have to pay your dues and at least sit out a year in one place, usually its a med-surg unit. If you could share some more of your background, then we might be able to help more.

Bob

[runsalot]

Love this update

I also did IT. Military and retail contracting. Mostly db creating and maintaining. Went into nursing because I was getting sick of contract work. I am enjoying my current position (neuro,spine). But one always has to have their eyes on what's next. (Contracting taught me that).

[ohmg]

What Nursing Informatics IS, and what employers think Nursing Informatics is varies by employer. Some employers, very few actually, have a real and true idea and understanding of what a nurse informaticist is and should be. Others title their jobs as nursing informaticist, and actually want: an application analyst, an IT technician, a report writer, and EHR template specialist, a programmer, a federal law EHR specialist.

I recently started a NI position from an employer that knew what one is and what they expected. However the job also includes being an app analyst, which I'm stoked for as I worked in IT as an analyst and I get to use my IT skills.

Personally, I've worked with RNs who went into NI with no previous IT experience and they are very lacking at what should be basic computing, i.e. how to install a program, how to uninstall a program, basic troubleshooting.

The pay has steadily been going up thanks to increased demand for specialists thanks to Obamacare.

Glad to see a comrade here!

[Bob_N_VA]

The hospital I work at has both a Nursing Informatics (NI) as well as an Ambulatory Informatics (AI) department. The primary difference is that NI is inpatient and AI deals with all our ambulatory sites which are many. I work in an IT position where the nursing background does help quite a bit but most of the folks here have varied clinical backgrounds or really none at all. What got me this job was the 20+ years of IT and being a current RN was more like icing on the cake.

Having been here for about 3 months now, I can much better appreciate how much the NI folks have to know about the procedures, processes and personalities of this hospital. I sat next to one of their new NI hires during a two day class for new nurses on our EMR system and was very impressed with how much she knew about both the software and the procedures since she had previously been one of their clinical NICU leads. She had used it for several years and been involved in the initial rollout but her clinical background was key to her having the credibility to talk to other nurses, doctors and administrative types. Coming into this hospital without ever having used their software as a clinician or understanding how they do business would have been a big handicap for me had I been hired for the NI position. Interestingly enough, she had no degree in informatics or even a BSN.

I'm still learning every day about the nuances of our complicated, evolved system. I handle about 70% of the calls I get without really any assistance now. It will probably be another 6 months before I am reasonably confident in what I am doing. If there is a lesson learned in all this, I guess it would be there is no substitute for experience, whether its as a nurse or previous years in IT.