How does Informatics look right now? Master's vs experience?

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Hello,

I want to say first that I really appreciate all of the information I have found on this website posted by everyone who have taken the to share information. I have combed through the nursing informatics related information and I have some questions since many posts are dated from a few years back.

How does this industry look right now? I appreciate all feedback, but I'd also love to hear perspectives from people living in Florida (especially in the Tampa Bay area). Is there still a good demand with strong potential for growth? Is this still a good time to pursue Informatics? Is experience still more powerful than a degree with no experience?

Thanks for any input! :)

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Opportunities for in-house nurse informaticists are lacking. A hospital doesn't need many informatics nurses to run.

There are a lot of opportunities to work for consulting and on-boarding firms as EHR systems are implemented. However, these jobs typically require travel etc.

I would only recommend nursing informatics for people who want to work with data or want to code/build EHR systems. The nursing workforce is polarizing. There are a lot of young and old nurses. If you are early in your career, the days of simply training people in a new EHR are gonna end, if only because young people intuitively know how to use systems.

I can't speak for the florida market.

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Specializes in Outpatient/Clinic, ClinDoc.

I have an MSN in nursing informatics, but honestly have not seen any openings near me. I work in clinical documentation, as do a few others I know with similar degrees. Would love to actually be an informatics nurse, but jobs are few and far between.

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Specializes in Informatics, Critical Care, Surgical Cardiac.

Working in informatics is not about training on the EMR, that is a very small portion. An informatics nurse will also perform workflows analysis and optimization. They are constantly working with upgrades, scheduled downtimes and the list goes on. I would do a job search on monster or some other job search. Good Luck, most want experience but education is good as well.

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Thank you all for your feedback! :)

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I just read this post and this the most honest assessment of the current job outlook for nursing informatics. Most persons have landed into their jobs because the big EMR implementation push or have work in the industry for years. I decided to not limit myself to just nursing informatics but I am instead pursing health informatics. As it stands right now there is no clear career path for nursing informatics. A masters in nursing informatics should not be the educational starting point for someone with no experience. That does not make sense.

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Specializes in Medical Surgical.

I am also interested in informatics. My hospital only has ONE person who has a degree in informatics. There are several "analyst" at the hospital but I am not sure if that would qualify as expierence. When I asked what they do, they said they basically review the doctors documentation and have them clarify information so they can submit claims for insurance reimbursement. Should I attempt to get a job doing this for expierence? I work at one of the lowest paying hospitals in Maryland apparently. We use Meditech and they don't have super users that I've heard of. Sounds like EPIC is where its at :/

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I am also interested in informatics. My hospital only has ONE person who has a degree in informatics. There are several "analyst" at the hospital but I am not sure if that would qualify as expierence. When I asked what they do, they said they basically review the doctors documentation and have them clarify information so they can submit claims for insurance reimbursement. Should I attempt to get a job doing this for expierence? I work at one of the lowest paying hospitals in Maryland apparently. We use Meditech and they don't have super users that I've heard of. Sounds like EPIC is where its at :/

I'm in a Meditech Hospital based in the West, but came from an EPIC hospital. I got my foot in the door by becoming instrumental in a build for a new charting system in my NICU (ISOPRIME). This lead me to being able to brake into the Meditech side. I'm not sure what wave your hospital may be in, but Meditech is just now rolling out a new nursing documentation component to their system called EBCD. Becoming a super-user is a great way to start getting into the field (I would let your director know you are interested, often this is how they choose a superuser when the time is needed). Meditech is also going to be rolling out their PK for physicians soon and CPOE is still fairly newish to physicians, so I'm sure they have someone working behind the scenes that you just may not know about. Look to see who your Advanced Clinical Analyst is and you'll probably stumble on the rest of the department too. Every hospital that has computer based charting has some sort of Informatics department.

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I am a an outpatient psych RN and was looking at an MSM in informatics

Would there be work at contract or private Angeles?

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