Getting my foot in the door

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Specializes in ICU and interventional pain.

I have been considering getting into nursing informatics. I'm thinking along the path of a masters in nursing informatics. My question is, would the best path be to jump right into a masters program while working my current ambulatory clinic job, and then apply for an informatics job after completing the program, or would it be worth it to look for an entry bachelor's level informatics job (if those exist) and then go through a masters program? I'd really just appreciate any advice on going into informatics as well.

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Specializes in informatics for 10 years.

I have always been an advocate for trying to get a job with your current experience. It seems that a nursing informatics degree opens the doors to interviews, but it does not guaranteed a job.

I should know since at one my former employers, when they posted an analyst role about a year ago, they had dozens of applicants. The final 5,  3 had a master in informatics, 1 was a floor nurse, 1 was an informatics trainer. Guess who got hired? The floor nurse. Her personality came across more as somebody who wanted the job for the right reasons.

If you have the money and time, the master's doesn't hurt, but you should be getting involved in anything informatics now, applying for jobs and see how that goes.  

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Specializes in ICU and interventional pain.

Thanks for the advice! I appreciate the insight into the candidates. I guess my only concern is that I have only been at my current job ~7 months. I did 4 years on the floor, between med surg, tele, PCU, and ICU. I had to get away from the bedside due to reasons that most nurses today are leaving the bedside. I've been in an outpatient clinic for 7 months now, and I definitely far prefer it to my time bedside, but I'm just wondering if now is too early to jump away, especially if I decide not to take the time to get a master's before applying into informatics. 

I work for a massive healthcare system (the largest in my region), so I definitely don't want to burn any bridges if they consider job swapping after 7 months to be too soon.

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