The future of Informatics....

Does anyone else feel like this?

No, I don't feel like that.

That's one of the reasons I decided not pursue NI. As I was sitting in budget meetings and heard the discussions of staffing, the NI positions were constantly on the chopping block having to be defended. I don't think it's going to go away, there is to much tech, but I didn't feel that the market was going to support the increasing number of graduates.

That's one of the reasons I decided not pursue NI. As I was sitting in budget meetings and heard the discussions of staffing the NI positions were constantly on the chopping block having to be defended. I don't think it's going to go away, there is to much tech, but I didn't feel that the market was going to support the increasing number of graduates.[/quote']

Agreed. I think that some folks here should consider quality. It's a closely related field anyway.

I really think this is a great field RIGHT NoW. My fear is what will happen to the informatic nurse once the big transition to EHR occur and everyone is trained. Of course there will still be a demand for them, but it will not be nearly as big. I am currently in school for informatics and graduate in 2014 but I am starting to feel nervous.....

I know there are other positions NI can fulfill but even those look scarce. Does anyone else feel like this?

I am not sure of what informatics exactly does. Wont there always be new people? new software that requires training? I was under the assumption that informatics can also do research implementation into new hospitals?

Now I may be wrong all of this. I simply have gained an interest in it when I heard of it on my last nursing school lecture lol

There will always be new software or updated to the software that is already being used. The issue is the increasing number of MSN Informatics prepared nurses that are hitting the streets compared to the available jobs. It's not a position that always has an obvious monitory return, and as such is always a target for cuts when the admin are looking to save money.

I've heard, but haven't verified that a modest hospital replaced the MSN Informatics nurses with BSN techies (read nerd/geek) at a significant savings. Have no idea where those MSN en's went.

When making carrier choices you always have to keep that in mind when deciding what to do. No clinical positions tend to be the first on the chopping block. Not always, but you have to look at the trends in the community your are in.

Right now it appears that there is still a market for Informatics nurses. Both in hospitals and for the EHR companies. If that's what you want to do, then go for it, just do it with open eyes.

An MSN is always a good thing and if you keep your eyes open there should always be jobs.

I still see a need for informatics, but it is not an easy field to break into. I researched this topic and found most nurses who moved into informatics did so in their own organization where they had established a reputation of a subject matter expert first.

This makes sense as the nurse who already knows how power chart or epic is used in their facility will have a leg up on a brand new informatics grad. Of course the informatics grad will have learned work flow, process and implementation. That gives her or him the leg up.

I guess what I am saying is make yourself a subject matter expert by stepping up to teach the new nurses on your unit the emr, offer to teach documentation tips to the other staff....and take a class on the subject, if you can find one that is not just theory but actual IT.