Got an offer should I take it?

Specialties Informatics

Published

I am having trouble deciding if I should take a nurse informatics job. My background is that I recently got my RN (ADN). I have been an LPN for 5 years working in mostly outpatient settings. I applied for two jobs when I was done with school: one was for working in the ER and the other was for a clinical informatics nurse position. I knew that I would get the ER job because I had connections and thought that the informatics job would have been somewhat of a long shot for me. That being said I ended up getting an interview. They were impressed that as an LPN I had experience with working with the IT department more specifically working with the informatics team with some of their projects. I more or less did a lot of schmoozing and networking to get my name out there because eventually I wanted to do informatics. I accepted the ER job before I got an offer from the other hospital system for the clinical informatics nurse position. The ER job pays $52,000 and the informatics job pays $68,000. The ER job is very close to home, takes me 10 minutes to get to work, I have shift work which means I would have a little more days off, but I have to work weekends and holidays. The informatics job is in downtown Pittsburgh which is a long commute every morning to beat rush hour traffic. But it's Monday - Friday, banker hours, no weekends, no holidays. I have a young family at home, one son who is 3 years old. I just need some advice on which I job I should take. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks for the input. I have asked these questions during the interview. The way they made it sound that during the call rotation was that they have a very good support team that is willing to assist with whatever may arise. They said that working from home can be an option as long as it's a project that can be worked on at home.

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My career goal is to do informatics. I don't want to do patient care. The only reason I took the ER job was to more or less put it on my resume so that I could so something else later. I do not want to be a floor nurse for the rest of my life.

You may be able to do the informatics job later on. I know you called it a long shot, but if you already have some experience, it seems like you could transition into that field down the line at a hospital closer by. I feel like the hospitals where I live are always looking for people with an interest in informatics.

But if your passion is truly in informatics and this job would fulfill your long-term goals, I'd take the job and consider moving your family. Not sure what your home situation is, but I think that would be my move.

As others have said, that commute is going to suck. If you take that job, I don't think it would be feasible to stay where you are. You could move to split the difference. Or, frankly, you could get a year or two of experience while commuting, then try to take an informatics job closer to where you live.

Sounds like you've got most of the info you need; now it's about sorting out your priorities.

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Again thanks for the feedback. Its nice to hear how others view and feel about the situation. Really makes the decision process a little more clear.

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Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.

I drive 80 miles round trip, for my nursing job, but that is 3 day/12 hour shift. I don't know if I could do that 5 days a week (I did work an 8 hour shift that was a longer drive, but traffic was not bad. I grew up in Chicago where long commutes are commonplace, if your goal is informatics, I'd say go for it.

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Specializes in ED.

It's a no-brainer, Foker. Take the NI position. :blink:

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