Interview of a nurse informatics specialist

[lonnaRN]

Hello,

I am really hoping someone can help me out. I am currently enrolled in a graduate level nurse informatics class and have a short assignment due that involves interviewing a nurse informatics specialist. Unfortunately, where I work, we do not have any nurses with the title, 'nurse informatics specialist.' We have a separate IT department, but none of the employees are nurses. So, the questions are as follows:

1. As a nurse informatics specialist, do you report to the nursing department, the IT department, or another department?

2.What do you see as the advantages/disadvantages or your current reporting relationship?

Many thanks in advance for responses!!

[Clovery]

I have the same assignment and the same problem. We don't have a NI specialist where I work. Hopefully someone here can answer!

[aficklin]

The ANA suggests that nurses with masters degrees in informatics carry the title "Nurse Informatics Specialist" while nurses who are board certified without the masters degree should carry the title, "Nurse Informaticist". Frankly, just because the ANA suggests it, doesn't mean that all of our health care organizations will follow this guideline...or even be aware of it.

I recently attended a nurse informatics boot camp in preparation for board certification this Summer and one of the instructors has done some research in job titles r/t nurse informatics. She found out of 1200 individual interviews with nurses who held classic informatics jobs (based on job description)...over 800 unique job titles! :)

So, as I don't have a Masters yet, I don't know if I fit the qualifications for your assignment, but I have worked a nurse informatics job for the last two years and am happy to answer nonetheless. Feel free to use or not!

1. My current position reports to its own, independent department which was created to support the training and ongoing build/upgrade of our EHR. In addition, this department manages the daily operations of the 80-some individuals who fall into this department. This includes trainers, analysts/builders, nurse informaticists, analytics specialists, project managers & process improvement. ALL of us need to be well-versed in change management/change acceleration. Ultimately, our reporting structure leads to the Chief Information Officer.

2. The advantage of the current reporting structure is that our leadership team (directors, executive directors, etc.) have a great understanding of the functional parts of our EHR including the benefits and challenges, in spite of the fact they don't actually work/document in it ever. This allows us to more simply explain issues when they are revealed and can present more succinct decision documents to change processes when necessary. The disadvantage of this reporting structure is that nursing in general, including role, scope and fundamental purpose can be misunderstood. Many of our leaders are not nurses by background and at times this can make a nurse informaticist feel disconnected from their field. This structure also typically does not encourage things like board certification or nurse's week celebrations as our backgrounds are dissimilar. This can be remedied with an active group of nurses working in these jobs together who strive to encourage all informaticists as a community.

As the ANA says informatics should be a part of EVERY nurse's education at every level, we all have a responsibility to encourage those who are new to the field of nursing.

I hope this is helpful, guys! :)

[gabrield, BSN, RN]

Hi, I am a Nurse and somehow techie,. I am working as a team leader in a home healthcare setting. I am reading posts and searching about nursing informatics. I think I can be a nurse informaticist/informatics. any recommendations on how to? for a newbie like me? thanks