medical informatics vs. nursing

[medg]

We are currently in clinicals (at a nursing home) for my nursing assistant class. So far I am enjoying 90% of my experience there (the other 10% from the bad attitudes the cnas give us sometimes). I am still deciding whether to pursue a career in nursing or medical informatics. All the lpn's I've talked to told me I should go straight for the rn & not the lpn. Those who are not working in healthfield were against nursing & told me that technology is where the jobs are & that I should do medical informatics. Some have advised me to work in health insurance industry. I have a degree in marketing but always volunteered my time doing home health, assisted living & fundraisers for various cancer & disease awareness. I did not enjoy sales but loved the volunteer work I did, which made me change careers to healthcare. I eventually plan to get my masters degree in healthcare management 3-5 yrs. I am looking forward to having a meaningful career where I am helping to make a positive change in this world by helping others. I want a respectable career that gives me a variety of things to do, excitement & makes me feel good at the end of the day. Can anyone give me advice? Especially what its REALLY like working as a RN or medical informatics? Also how is it different from nursing informatics? If it helps any Any advice on working while in school? Any help is very much appreciated. Thank you!

[medg]

We are currently in clinicals (at a nursing home) for my nursing assistant class. So far I am enjoying 90% of my experience there (the other 10% from the bad attitudes the cnas give us sometimes). I am still deciding whether to pursue a career in nursing or medical informatics. All the lpn's I've talked to told me I should go straight for the rn & not the lpn. Those who are not working in healthfield were against nursing & told me that technology is where the jobs are & that I should do medical informatics. Some have advised me to work in health insurance industry. I have a degree in marketing but always volunteered my time doing home health, assisted living & fundraisers for various cancer & disease awareness. I did not enjoy sales but loved the volunteer work I did, which made me change careers to healthcare. I eventually plan to get my masters degree in healthcare management in 3-5 yrs. I am looking forward to having a meaningful career where I am helping to make a positive change in this world by helping others. I want a respectable career that gives me a variety of things to do, excitement & makes me feel good at the end of the day. Can anyone give me advice? Especially what its REALLY like working as a RN or medical informatics? Also how is it different from nursing informatics? Any advice on working while in school? Any help is very much appreciated. Thank you!

[Mijourney]

I'd go for the RN if nursing is where your heart lies. Once you get that RN under your belt and get bedside experience for several years or more, it's downhill from there (meaning opportunites may open for you). If you read previous threads you'll notice the same theme that you will need nursing experience to perform proficiently in nursing informatics. To get into informatics, I have noticed that more often than not, an experienced nurse would become involved in a informatics related project. So, I think getting your nursing experience, then assessing whether you would like health IT and would be a competent, knowledgeable, and skilled performer in it is where you need to go. The master's level after that should be your aim. Other opinions?

[Mijourney]

Well, here goes. Medical informatics more relates to physician practice and the like. Nursing informatics is based on nursing practice, classifications, terminology and so on. You have other disciplines that have incorporated informatics such as public health, pharmacy, health information management, as well as nursing. I wouldn't get too caught up in the differences at this point because each day there is something new in the world of informatics that brings them closer to each other. You can become a nurse and decide later on that you want to pursue a master's degree in health informatics. Some schools have programs where you can pursue health management and a concentration in health informatics or maybe even nursing informatics. Other opinions?