New grad offered Epic Analyst position...

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Hi I'm a recent new grad (just passed NCLEX about 2 months ago in 75 questions yay). I have no RN experience, but a person I knew in high school who works in IT recruitment offered me the opportunity to join a team of 20 as a Epic Application Analyst. He told me it pays 30 dollars an hour. I'm wondering if I should take him up on this offer (truth is I'm getting married in a year and really need a job soon or else we won't be able to afford it. No hospital has gotten back to me even though I was top 30% of my class...). I'm also wondering if this is a "waste" of my nursing degree. Would I still be an RN? I know that I don't want to work in the hospital setting all that long anyway (if I got hired in the hospital I was planning on only staying for a year since I love community nursing way better then in patient care). I'm really not sure what to do...I always loved computers but I worked hard to get that RN title. Any advice/ information on this role would be appreciated. Thanks.

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

I would politely decline. You need nursing experience to get where you want to go in your career.

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Congrats on passing the NCLEX!! I'll try to give you as much information as I can to help you. I've mentored a few nurses who have transitioned into IT.

I've been working as an Epic analyst for the past 4ish years at a hospital in Connecticut. Prior that--I worked in acute care and got an MSN in Informatics. I love the work, the hours are great, I can't speak highly enough of this job. That being said--I couldn't do my job well without my nursing experience. Most of the analysts on my team have work experience in the application they work in. For example--I have ortho nursing experience and started by working on the Clin Doc and Orders team where my focus was physician and nursing documentation (flowsheets, notes, order & order set build). There is a ex-Emergency nurse who works on the Epic ASAP module. I work very closely with end users to design a system that works well for them--because I know the workflows of the real world they trust my opinions and instincts when doing so. Without the nursing experience--I would not be as valuable to my team.

I do have a friend that started in an IT position right out of nursing school. She too was in a similar position to you where she knew someone who worked in Epic recruitment and she could not find a job she really wanted. After starting in IT, she never went back to clinical nursing. She regrets this as she never got to use the skills she acquired in nursing school. Her biggest complaint in her current job (she's a systems analyst) is that she is expected to understand nursing workflows in a hospital and be able to draw on her own experiences. This is a struggle for her because she never practiced as a nurse.

I do think you've been offered a great opportunity--good luck in your decision. IT is a great career and Epic is really the way to go if you make that choice.

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let the time take its course and things will workout. It's great passing NCLEX, now start pitching employers unsolicitedly. Who knows what great adventures lies ahead for you waiting to be unwrapped.

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Specializes in informatics for 10 years.

Congrats on passing the NCLEX. Glad that stress is over for you! :)

Since you said you always love computers, I would say that taking the epic job won't be a bad decision for you.

I've always said, anybody can learn clinical , workflows....what's so hard about them? A nurse could also go in a factory and learn supply chain workflows. They are just workflows.

Epic itself, hires a bunch of non-clinical recent college grads and they eventually learn the clinical workflows. Is Epic going bankrupt? No. So I guess hiring non-clinical people to implement clinical applications hasn't had a bad impact on this company, given that they are doing very well.

And no, your degree wasn't a waste....how can it be a waste if you're being offered an analyst epic job? Taking the epic job could provide you a nice, comfortable financial life in the future. I would take the job, but then again, i do love technology :D

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