BlueRenegade

Thanks much for the advice! Will be spending the day scouring this board--have already learned tons! Thanks, Blue :)

Hello all, New to the forum, would like to pick the brains of some of you well-informed folks. I have 5 years of bedside ICU experience, but my hospital is implementing Epic, and I have a position now as an Epic Credentialed Trainer (ClinDoc). I will be in this position for about the next year and a half, until our entire system has gone live. After that point, we are going to have an Informatics department that will continue to support Epic going forward. I'm hoping to be a part of that when the time comes...seems like a good chance to get in on the ground floor. I am planning on beginning an RN-MSN program, but looking at the various options, I'm not sure what to choose. I see programs with an Informatics emphasis, others with more of a management emphasis. What I'd REALLY like is to be in management WITHIN Informatics, so I'm torn. I won't be able to finish an MSN before our training finishes and the Informatics department gets launched, but by the time the department gets up and running, I'll have two years of Epic training experience. I don't have any managerial experience. I'm kind of leaning toward getting the MSN with the managerial emphasis, since I'll have some actual job experience with informatics with my two years of Epic training. I'm thinking that might be best out of the gate, with a plan of picking up a post-Master's certificate in Informatics later. On the other hand, it is an Informatics DEPARTMENT, so I wonder if I shouldn't focus on that first, and worry about management stuff later. Anyone have any helpful advice for my dilemma? I'm looking mainly at the online degree programs...which brings up a sub-question, are there any of the online programs anyone would particularly recommend or avoid? Thanks much for any help! Blue