perseus29

As somebody suggested, if you can do the internship program where pre health students are exposed to direct patient care experience, then do that, as that would be your best way of finding you if direct patient care is for you; if you can't do that, then volunteer at a hospital on a medical surgical nursing floor and pay attention as to what nurses do. I had a cousin that thought of being a nurse and then through her high school, she was able to do some type of program that let her be a nursing assistant; after a month of that experience, she got to see what nurses did, and as she said, 'no way in hell i'm going to be a nurse.' Before that though, all she thought about was being a nurse. So please get yourself in a hospital and look and watch what nurses do, and see if you can handle that. Better to do that, then go thru college and then find out in the middle of your nursing clinicals that nursing is not for you; in my nursing program we actually had about 5 people that dropped out because they didn't like it. Kind of wasted 1 year to find that out.

"Might this be a good field for me? What do you all do on a day-to-day basis?" Yes, this field would be excellent for you. If i were in your shoes, I would clean up the resume, and start sending it out. In this field many times they are looking for a 'techy' person with an RN degree. Is too bad you don't have much clinical experience, as that would only stand out more, but is definitely not a deterrent in looking for a job. I would go as far as saying that you could find a job without completing the online stuff; but it does require the know how of navigating career boards, etc. As far as what is done on a day to day basis----that really depends on the job; there are tons of 'things you could be doing.' As rninformatics said, there are numerous roles; you could be hired as a general analyst, but your role might include configuring the application, troubleshooting the application, training staff, gathering requriements from the users, testing new releases, etc. These are the type of roles that don't use programming, but many times a knowledge of databases is helpful; if there is anything I tell people to do is to enroll in a database class (community college), or get a book and teach yourself how to build a database. Of course, that's if you don't already know how. Is good to understand microsoft access, but I would also learn basic SQL. Also by looking at your experience, I don't see how you haven't applied for other jobs; you have already done the most difficult part of the process and that is, getting a job with no IT experience. Now is just a matter of dusting off the resume and sending it out. Sure, you could sit there and think---well, what do i want to do for my next job? Do I want to be a network person? Do i just want to go out and train people? Do I just want to support an application? However, given the current 'job crisis' you will find a lot of generic jobs out there. Matter of fact, my recruiter friend showed me a list of jobs last week and they were all generic; basically it said, experience building, troubleshooting applications. Granted, it was for a specific software, but the point is that I bet those jobs are a lot more than just building and troubleshooting. And even though they were specific for an application, you can sell yourself by saying that you have traiend yourself in whatever application you're working on now, and that you're a fast learner, etc. Learning applications----all of us can do that. Don't be apprehensive. You're ideal for the field and is up to you when you want to start looking for a new job. If you need further advice on resume or interviewing, let me know; I have tons of experience in that department too. Good luck, and waste no time.

The main thing about these tests is to pay attention to the questions because they will repeat in a different manner, and that's how they catch if you're faking it, or it throws a red flag that you're not being honest. Example questions that get to the same point, but are asked very differently: 1.How often have you had to give up your leisure time to work. 2.If you have plans on a Friday evening and your employer has an important deadline to meet would you cancel private plans? So if you answer question 1 with, 'very often', and then to number to you say, 'not very likely', that throws a red flag. If anything when doing these tests, best thing is to answer the questions consistently, and pay attention to what they are asking because the questions repeat themselves in a different manner.

I've had a similar question in an interview before and my response was: Upon learning that my assigned tasks were not in alignment with my values, I immediately informed my manager about my concerns. I explained to them why the tasks assigned confliced with my values, and I also gave them an alternative solution as to how the conflict could be resolved. Management and I came to an agreement and the issue was resolved. At this point the interviewer could ask about details of the problem, but then You can say that you would rather not divulge such details as respect for your previous employer. Again, that could be also testing if you're the type that's willing to talk bad about your employer so my policy is that when interviewing, is best to speak generically. In my case they were satisfied with my answer. I believe what's important is expressing the fact that you are willing to discuss the issue with management and also you are willing to provide and alternative solution; not just saying, 'sorry, i cant do this because it's against my values.' Also, you don't want to make a choice without informing management about your decision. Gotta keep everybody in the loop as to why you do what you do.

So far NO one has gotten GB from this H1N1 vaccine because trials are just starting. And even if somebody has a negative reaction to the vaccine, I highly doubt the pharmaceutical companies will come out and advertise the fact that somebody got GB from the vaccine; if anything they will come out and say that the person had a pre existing condition. Kind of like the tasers----some people died afer they get tasered, and taser Inc says that it was because of a pre existing condition. Well, would they still be alive if they didn't get tasered? Nobody will ever know.

If you want to do informatics, just start applying and see what turns up. Companies like Epic, Cerner, Siemens, etc, love to brag that they have IT nurses in their staff because that gives them a lot more credibility when going to hospitals and implementing their systems. I was working at a hospital in the houston area that hired 2 CNA's because their background was in computers and they understood the clinical talk. Now, the CNA's were smart enough that when they saw the nurses struggling with the training, they volunteered to help; they got noticed and eventually hired and trained by the hospital in setting up their IT system, and they don't even have a nursing degree per se. If I were you, I would definitely put my resume out there, and start applying for any jobs you see in the area; right now is a tough time to be in the market because I know of two nurses with IT implementation experience, and they tell me that hospitals are right now looking for specific experience; so their experience is in cerner implementations, and in their specific region, hospitals are looking for meditech or epic, and even though they got that IT/nursing backgroudn, hospitals know that if they wait long enough, they will get somebody with that specific experience, so they are not even getting interviews; couple fo years ago it was very easy to get the job. But to answer your questions, yes, is possible that rn grads can start in informatics. YOu just have to put yourself out there and start knocking on doors.

As rninformatics says, consulting businesses are seeing a slowdown from years past. A friend of mine own a consulting company and I'm friends with a recruiter from another place; they both say that there are jobs in specific areas, but not the wide availability thy have seen in the past. Also, hospitals have realized that there is an abundance of talent out there, and now they want specific experience. Where as before they wanted somebody who had lets say specific skills such as somebody who implemented Mckesson or Cerner, now they even want more specialized skills, so you might have cerner experience, but they want somebody that knows Iview, and clients are waiting it out to find that person.... Now, there are jobs out there, and the good news is that if you got an RN degree and experience in the field, you will get an interview; however, is not like before where you got the interview, and the position was easily nailed. Now, there is competition, but unike the IT field, people in informatics are getting interviews. I have a friend that got laid off and he has specific IT experience, and so far, bunch of applications sent, but not even a single call about them. So if you got great interviewing skills, you can find a job....

Thank you so much for your post and link!!!

So did you get any advice? Even though there are a few hospitals in the area, there are two main networks; Seton and St. David's. I used to work in the seton network, and i knew nurses that worked at st davids and came to seton, and those that were in seton and left for st david's. I would stay away from the orthopedic floor at the main seton hospital....they always take new grads, and there is a reason why; haven't worked there in 3 years, and maybe things changed! :)

Does anybody know what's the process to renew an expired texas nursing license? We have looked through the texas board website, and all we can find is the link to renew a current license; we tried calling the board too, but all we get is, 'representative is busy now; please try calling later.' We even left the phone on speaker for 45 minutes while waiting for the representative to come on the line, and even after 45 min, no luck! thanks!

My friend who works as a nurse in Reading (outside of London area), makes 26k a year, and she's been a nurse for 3 years. Salaries in the UK are significantly lower than in the USA, and yet, the cost of living there is outrageous....well, when compared to the USA. I work in IT, and 2 years ago I worked in London; I learned that my company was paying 22,000/year pounds for an entry level position in London; that same position in the usa was being offered $45,000/year; people look at the salary and say, well, thats about right because of the exchange rate; problem is that the exchange rate means nothing because when you work in the usa, do you care about the exchange rate of the uk, or for that matter, the one for europe, japan, or china? All you care for is your total net income that you take home, and how that income pays for your bills, groceries, etc. My point is that salaries in europe tend to be lower than salaries in the usa; another example---my friend works as an engineer in spain and his salary is 35k; the only engineers that make such salaries in the usa, are probably the ones working part time.... My friend says that a salary of 35,000 pounds for a nurse where she works is damn good.....I would expect your salary to drop significantly in the uk, and don't expect the cost of living to drop at all. No clue about germany but you can google 'registered nurse salary germany.'

Just wanted to let you know that you don't have to have an 'informatics' degree to break info the field, unless you are going for one of those roles that is specific for a nursing informatist. AS I have said in many other posts: there are dozens of people doing clinical it jobs that have either no clinical experience, or no clinical background; then there are those clinical people that are doing the jobs and they had no IT experience, except for maybe using email. As you say you are a technology nut, maybe what you want to do is find hospitals that have their RT dept in electronic form; i don't know much about the RT department as I've implemented application for the nursing world. HOwever, in the past when i have searched for jobs, many of the listings said something like: clinical experience such as RN, RT, PT required...As I tell people, many times you create your own opportunities in these fields; if you got clinical experience and you are technology savvy, maybe you might as well start looking for jobs in the field; I just saw one the other day that said the following: Programmer/Systems Analyst III -- Clinical Documentation - Analyst - IS "Supports Clinical Documentation - Experience needed in RT, PT, OT or Speech. Acts as a consultant to user departments to enhance existing business applications and to facilitate solutions to meet business requirements, ensuring that all related applications are consistent with overall organizational strategies." Of course, if your goal is to have an informatics degree, nothing wrong with that; i just want to make it clear that many people are in the field without such degree.

You're right! I quit photoshop when our school gave us a free sample of paint shop pro...photoshop was too much too handle for me! And with excel I stick to basic copy, paste, the function of adding, and some sorting :chuckle ...so yea, excel can be a beast of a monster to master, especially when i see those brave souls extracting data from databases, etc. But knowing excel goes a long way in the it world; it has saved my life tons of times...excel and access combined!

I would venture to answer your question with, yea IT experience is not really necessary, but it doesn't hurt to have it, and it really depends on the specific job you're going for; if you want to do programming for an application used clinically, then of course, you will be required to have IT experience more so than clinical experience. But there are other jobs out there that don't require much IT experience. However, in the last year or so, I have seen a greater number of candidates that have better credentials than I saw in 2005, and 2006 and by that I mean that they have an RN degree along with some other IT experience; with that said, becoming a superuser gives you invaluable credentials towards getting a job in the informatics field. Now, as a consultant, I have gone to many hospitals and I've met the IT/informatics staff, and many times the nurses that volunteered to be superusers got chosen to be put in the IT team; some hated it and quit that role, and others simply loved it and stayed in the team. As they had no IT experience, many had to take some intro database course, or programming course to be able to do their jobs better. Others didn't have much to do with programming so they learned on the fly.... Just 3 months ago we had a nursing assistant who is always doing more than what she has time for, and as nobody wanted to volunteer to simply enter data in the system, she volunteered to do it; 2 months later and now she has been asked to join the IT team doing simple build and troubleshooting tasks. Little does she know that she has a bright future ahead now and all her IT experience prior to the IT job, was excel and photoshop. :)

I don't think a clinical area matters, unless you know of a specific job that requires you to be skilled in a certain area, and your goal is to get that specific job. As for myself, I worked all areas of medical surgical units, and the job I got was implementing an operating room application; I had zero experience in that area, except for maybe understanding some of the post op flow, but ironically enough I got turned down for all the jobs that involved applications in the regular floors that I was experienced on. Of course, there were times when i was on a job search and it would say something like, labor and delivery experience preferred, or emergency department clinical experience required, etc, but not all jobs required specific clinical experience. What you will see the most though is, clinical experience preferred or clinical experience or hospital workflow understanding a plus.... Hence, I would choose to work in a clinical area that you're interested in, and not worry too much about selecting the best clinical experience for informatics.