Goal: Informatics

Reading this forum reveals that experience tends to override formal education — many get into the field, get experience, then advance their education.

My opinion — one strength of nurses in the informatics area is their clinical experience, and how they are able to apply that experience. I would suggest you develop your clinical skills/knowledge, then look for nearby opportunities such as being an EMR superuser.

This is absolutely correct. I just got my DNP in Nursing Informatics and am currently working as a independent healthcare informatics consultant. The only reason I can do this job is my previous experience working as a clinic manager & systems level EHR design experience which I got during my employment, not from my degree. My degree legitimizes the theoretical knowledge to back up my experiences.

Volunteer for informatics committees, volunteer to be a superuser, make friends with the EHR builders and trainers. Become a know entity to your EHR team and clinic/unit as someone who knows what they are talking about. Then get the degree.

As for degree programs, seek out one that has EXCELLENT clinical experiences. Many of the online programs do not facilitate clinical experiences. The networking that I did through my University sponsored clinicals are the other reason that I have the job I do today.

niccikatie-SO gad you posted that! It is exactly what I have been/am doing. I am in an MSN program but have already told them that I want to continue on to my DNP. I work at a teaching facility so I have great opportunities and I have been my unit's super-user rep; already know many of the clinical people. I am really interested in clinical ed. Loving it so far. It's a part time program , so I have plenty of time to get more of both nursing and informatics experience as I go.

Ahh, experience. I deal with our in-house bsn & msn informatics folks a lot. They're nice people but their education didn't really prepare them for the realities of system project management.

Disclaimer: 2nd career rn, 1st career was telecom management with extensive system build & maintenance experience.

Agreed. Getting a position a super user, trainer, or some sort of support role is key in breaking through this industry. Make yourself available for projects and go-lives and you will learn a lot.

I agree 100% with the nurse experience factor. I'm an Informatics manager for a small rural hospital/clinic. My dept consists of me (technical background - BSBA Computer Information Systems with 18 years experience in highly technical roles/project management), an LPN Informatics Specialist, an RN Informatics Specialist and a part-time WHNP Informatics Specialist.

None of the nurses in my dept have formal degrees in Informatics, but have gained experience building/trouble-shooting our system (Meditech) through on-the-job experience, coupled with many webinars/training sessions with Meditech. We truly work as a team. I handle the more technical aspects and manage projects, they do most of the building/workflow and educating, but we constantly bounce ideas/questions off of each other every day.

When I hire a nurse, I look for real-world nursing experience (at least 2 years) and a little technical aptitude. A degree in Informatics looks good on a resume, but it doesn't weigh in heavily on my hiring decision.

I agree with others - get involved with the EMR system you currently utilize. Offer your assistance on any project you can and offer to be a super-user to train other nurses. When the next job opening comes up they'll probably snag you up.:)