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Discussion

Going into informatics

I'm an ED nurse, and a long time computer hobbyist and general tech geek. For the past 18 months I've done some informatics stuff as a side job at work. For a while it was half my job, though now it's a quarter or less.

I worked on the build team and the roll out of our first EMR (we were pushed right up against the meaningful use deadline, but made it with several seconds to spare...) I did pretty much all the work flow stuff for the ED and some for the rest of the hospital, designed all the forms we document on, helped design and teach the classes first to superusers, then to the rest, and I do much of the teaching and a lot of the changes and improvements in out documents and orders and such.

I've really enjoyed this and am thinking about making the move to doing it full time. I have a sort of mentor for this at work, but I thought I'd ask a few questions here too and hopefully get advice from a few informatics professionals.

What I'm wondering about mainly right now is the education part of it.

Certificate vs Masters? Does doing the extra work to get the masters increase job opportunities and salary enough to be worth it?

Health vs Nursing Informatics? I understand the difference in focus, and looking at the courses but would be very interesting. Is one more marketable then the other?

Thanks for any info or advice,

Vince_RN

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    You have an adequate amount of experience in EMR implementation at your hospital, start applying! See if the hospital you are currently working for is hiring a clinical analyst or nurse informaticist. An MSN in Informatics is not necessary to work in Informatics/Healthcare IT. Having an MSN in Informatics will not necessarily get you more salary - it's really DOE. Having an MSN in Informatics without experience will not necessarily get you more opportunities. Many hiring managers want someone experienced. Of course experience + MSN will make you more marketable, but experience alone will still get you job offers. If you still plan to get your master's degree, I don't really think one makes you more marketable. If you're going to work in a hospital setting, an MSN may be preferred. It's important to note that nurses working in these kind of roles may fall under Nursing department or IT/IS department or both. If you fall under IT/IS department, they most likely do not really care for your MSN because they hired you for your clinical knowledge/experience and your ability to relate to the healthcare staff. If you work outside a hospital setting, such as an EMR vendor, they most likely do not care for your MSN either. Experience is still key.

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    Having an MSN in Informatics will not necessarily get you more salary - it's really DOE. Having an MSN in Informatics without experience will not necessarily get you more opportunities. Many hiring managers want someone experienced. Of course experience + MSN will make you more marketable, but experience alone will still get you job offers....

    If you work outside a hospital setting, such as an EMR vendor, they most likely do not care for your MSN either. Experience is still key.

    1000% Agree here. If you know you want to into management later on, definitely get your master's degree; if you know you want to run a nursing informatics department made up of only nurses, then a master's in nursing might be your best bet, otherwise, it doesn't matter. In the end, as RJMJ87 said, what really matters is your experience. Also, maybe best to get a job and then maybe your employer can fund part of your master's degree, given that you have experience and that's what you really need to get a job out there.

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    I am a floor nurse and going into informatics. I am getting the MSN b/c I work at a teaching facility and they are helping with tuition. I think there are opportunities for jobs already, but I am not quite ready to leave the floor. I am helping with optimizing the EMR system we already have and doing some diabetes data research.

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    I am getting the MSN b/c I work at a teaching facility and they are helping with tuition. I think there are opportunities for jobs already, but I am not quite ready to leave the floor. I am helping with optimizing the EMR system we already have and doing some diabetes data research.

    In your case you're doing it smart...they are paying for your tuition, you're involved with informatics in your current job, so you're in a win-win situation.

    But if a person is in a situation where they can't go to school for whatever reason, or they don't like going to school, and they have some EMR experience, then the master's is definitely optional, because given a situation like OP's where he has some EMR experience, he could be out there applying for jobs and most likely would get a job.

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