Need a little direction/advice....Any 1,2,3 step to becoming a NI nurse. HELP!

rninformatics, DNP, RN · Oct 13, 2008

Welcome land27,

You've come to the right place. There are several established NI professionals who visit this forum. I dont think there is one cookie cutter formula that will help you gain entry into this specialty. Each of us has a unique story to tell related to how we started in Nursing Informatics.

Feel free to post/ask any specific questions you have ............

My career path has been becoming more and more down the road of nursing informatics. I am even going to be heading back to school soon to start a MIS degree......but still the path to becoming a NI nurse seems if nothing else elusive.
I really need some direction and some advice.

SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN · Oct 13, 2008

land, do you have a system now in place where you work? Learn it inside and out. Call your IT folks and ask if they have anything you can use to learn it better. You WILL be remembered.

Try making friends with one of the tech staff. I can guarantee that in my place if we found a floor nurse with an IT interest and even the slightest ability to express that we'd jump on him like flies on - well, you know. Okay, honey. That's it.

land27 · Oct 13, 2008

I'll attempt to do that as much as possible.....I work for fresenius medical care in a acute dialysis unit. We are considered a contracted service so we are not used in the facility for anything beyond dialysis. I'm sure FMC will eventually implement more informatics in it's chronic Clinics....I'll jump on that when it happens. Howabout internships, have you ever known places to offer then in NI

SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN · Oct 13, 2008

land, I work in a rural critical access hospital and fell into this job. I was in systems for years as a COBOL programmer and went back to nursing school after my job was outsourced in 2002.

If you don't have ties (because you'd probably have to travel) you might look into getting in with Meditech, Epic, Cerner/McKesson, or HMS in any way they would take you. I can almost guarantee, though, that you'll take a pay cut. Contracted dialysis work pays very well, from my limited understanding.

I've never heard if an informatics internship, but then, I'm not in a position to hear of much.

SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN · Oct 13, 2008

The other thing to consider is finding a local hospital, showing up with a killer resume, and saying that you really want to break into informatics. Nurses with an interest and aptitude in the field are rare and I think you'd have a really good shot at being taken on into an entry-level IT spot at more money than someone without a nursing license.