How to become a Nursing Informatics CONSULTANT

ikarus01 · Oct 20, 2016

Consultants are individuals who have gained experience in specific subjects/areas and then they give that advice professionally.

For example, there are nursing consultants out there who specialize in optimizing hospitals workflows. And how do they know how to do that? Because they probably worked in many hospitals and they got to see what worked the best, so now that they have that accumulated experience, they can go to other hospitals and work as consultants, giving their expert advice on what workflows might work best in specific settings.

The same applies to nursing informatics..you get consulting jobs when your experience is good enough that you can offer your services to clients, and clients feel you have the experience to help them.

What are the duties? They vary, just like the duties of a nurse vary, according to specialty, setting, etc. Same goes with the pay.

mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN · Oct 21, 2016

One of my professors worked at the hospital where I work. She was a floor nurse, charge nurse-basically had a full career as a nurse then got involved in the implementation of EPIC (HUGE organization so it took a long time). She has since finished her DNP in Informatics and started her own business of consulting for other hospitals implementing EPIC, as well as other EMRs. She also is an associate professor where I am (a teaching hospital).

I think that any area that you want to be a consultant in, you have to be an expert in and then match that with the education. Degrees and certifications matter.

ikarus01 · Oct 21, 2016

you have to be an expert in and then match that with the education. Degrees and certifications matter.

Degrees and certification are not a requirement and given the number of consultants I've met and worked with who only have a bachelor's degree to their name, I'm going to go on a limb and say the opinion above is just pure speculation.

I've done consulting in the past, doing it now, and the only 2 degrees to my name are, a bachelors in nursing and a bachelors in computer science. One of my colleagues is an LPN and his only degree is an associates degree and his LPN license. Sure, others might have certificates and whatever, but there is no requirement that says, to be a consultant, you need a Masters, PhD, or any other certificate.

mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN · Oct 26, 2016

I guess it depends on what kind of consultant. My professor is EPIC certified and deals with very large health organizations. The doctorate allows her to teach at the university level as well.

I am not saying her way is the only way, just what (little) I know of it. I have classmates that do things in informatics and are getting the degree to either fulfill a requirement for their ob or to get a better one.