Transition from the Trenches back into IT

I have been reading the posts here of late. I am a Clinical Informatics Nurse Specialist working for a State University. I came about this position much like the other posters here. I was an I.T. refugee with various advanced credentials who pursued nursing as a career. I enjoyed being an RN working in various critical care and acute settings. One day, I was looking through the University job postings and found this job opening. I said to myself "why not". I applied and interviewed, and was offered the position.

I am in a job with a new department and with great supervisors.

Transferring from the Clinical and procedural setting to the world of IT was an interesting transition. I went through a period of "direct patient contact withdrawal". I asked myself at times why did I transfer? Being in a more compartmentalized IT world was different. The absence of beeping monitors, alarms, scrubbing in, and controlled chaos was deafening at one point, replaced by keyboard taps, and idle talk mixed in with d base commands and networking infrastructure. I had to admit it was nice to be with fellow "geeks" again. I was a little rusty with my v basic and SQL commands but it was like riding a bicycle, it all came back after a bit. I found it fun to exercise that side of my brain again. Though I found that my logical brain was great for nursing. I was able to do a lot of my nursing decisions based on a my logical algorithmic way of thinking.

I realized that except for another nurse who worked technical support, I was the only one with a strong healthcare background in the group except for our chief clinical information head, who was an M.D. . The rest of the crew were dyed in the wool techies and programming gurus who won't know the difference between a CBC and CMP, Imunoglobulin panel, and peak and trough levels. Some of my co workers would state they would get sick or faint at the site of body fluids and blood. In short, they don't know much about the healthcare side of the equation.

Enter, the CI Nurse specialist who speaks geek. I found myself advocating for the end-users such as the nurses and the providers. They are using the EHR and are seeing the patients who need care. Sometimes it would be a challenge to explain the logic behind how we as nurses think to IT folks. Now I find myself as the "bridge" to both worlds. I do a lot of problem solving. at times training and Tech support, and other functions depending on the priorities and assignments. I am slowly finding my new center and balance in my new role. We are upgrading our EHR to a new software system and the challenges abound.

Yes I do miss patient contact. I miss being with my "nurse family". But I see myself now as one who can still make a difference for my fellow healthcare professionals and ultimately the patients.

Thought I'd share with my fellow CI nurses and others who may be interested.

By the way, for those who are interested in pursuing this area of nursing, go for it. We are short on people here and need people. My own manager was asking me if I knew anyone. So there it is a little pitch for my group. Want to move to Illinois?