Want to get into NI as soon as I can!

Debbie Gring · May 21, 2011

good morning cara!

[color=#483d8b]i am a diploma grad from many years ago (1973!) i worked at my previous facility for many years, the last 10 years of which i was able to get into the informatics arena. that facility was adopting a house wide his and i was on a team of 3 (nurse, unit clerk and radiology tech) that build the order management portion of the system. i stayed on to maintain and refine. several years later we moved to a new pharmacy system which i assisted with, then patient documentation and radiology implementation. you do not have to be in the hospital environment to get into ni however, there are nursing home systems also around that cater to their unique needs.

[color=#483d8b]i would say however to get your degree, make yourself known that you are interested in helping with his systems. volunteer to help with testing of upgrades, ask to be a part of a build team. also, look on the ania-caring job list, you will be able to find jobs there, some that will entry type level.

[color=#483d8b]good luck!

Matthew_RN · May 23, 2011

I started by taking an IS travel position. From what I have seen over the past 4 years is you have two options: 1. work for one of the big guys and travel every week as a consultant or as an FTE.

2. work at a local hospital which is sometimes very political.

Send me a PM if you want more info.

Thanks,

Matt

Matthew_RN · May 23, 2011

I am new to the site so, I cannot send PMs yet. As soon as I can I will reply to the PM I got.

Thanks,

Matt

Matthew_RN · May 25, 2011

So I have received a couple of PMs in the last few days. As I stated above I am new to the site so I cannot respond to them until I post 15 times.

But, here is what I can share to the open forum.

I started out as a super user at a very large facility (almost a 1000 beds) when they were going to electronic documentation. One day I put my resume on one of the major job web sites and a recruiter called me. To be honest I had never even considered doing this as a career. 3 years later here I am.

Couple things to know.

You either work for 1. software companies (Epic, McKesson, HMS, Meditech, Promed, Cerner, and others) 2. A healthcare system (HCA, Baptist, CHS, Tenet etc...) 3. You work support for a local hospital. 3. A contract company (almost like how travel nursing works except you return home on the weekends.) You get contracted out to the people listed above.

You can work in different roles depending on who you work for. I can do support, training, deployment of new products, sales, QA the list goes on. Some jobs allow you to work from home while other require a lot of travel.

Pay depends greatly depending on what role you play. If you travel expect more. Some applications are harder to learn than other and those pay more. Also, you may need to be certified in the specific application by the vender. One way to get certified is to work for the vender which normally requires a contract. (We spend a year training you, you work for us for 2 years) kind of thing.

This is somewhat of a hard role to break into unless you are willing to travel or move while cutting your teeth.

Hope this helps and I will reply to PMs when I have posted enough to unlock that option.

Respectfully,

Matt

rninformatics, DNP, RN · May 25, 2011

Greetings Matt,

Welcome to the NI Forum

This might help increase your posting stats. I'd suggest you post under different topics/start new thread(s)

Can you reply back sharing which vendor products and module(s) you have worked with? In what capacitiy?

What and for whom you did you work "sales" ?

Tell us what types of tasks "QA" involves

Tell us what you think are the hardest challenges facing our industry and our informatics profession currently.

Whats your pet peev?

Also feel free to contribute to other threads on this Forum or any of the other Forums at AllNurses.com

Again, Welcome and THANKS for contributing!

So I have received a couple of PMs in the last few days. As I stated above I am new to the site so I cannot respond to them until I post 15 times.
But, here is what I can share to the open forum.
I started out as a super user at a very large facility (almost a 1000 beds) when they were going to electronic documentation. One day I put my resume on one of the major job web sites and a recruiter called me. To be honest I had never even considered doing this as a career. 3 years later here I am.
Couple things to know.
You either work for 1. software companies (Epic, McKesson, HMS, Meditech, Promed, Cerner, and others) 2. A healthcare system (HCA, Baptist, CHS, Tenet etc...) 3. You work support for a local hospital. 3. A contract company (almost like how travel nursing works except you return home on the weekends.) You get contracted out to the people listed above.
You can work in different roles depending on who you work for. I can do support, training, deployment of new products, sales, QA the list goes on. Some jobs allow you to work from home while other require a lot of travel.
Pay depends greatly depending on what role you play. If you travel expect more. Some applications are harder to learn than other and those pay more. Also, you may need to be certified in the specific application by the vender. One way to get certified is to work for the vender which normally requires a contract. (We spend a year training you, you work for us for 2 years) kind of thing.
This is somewhat of a hard role to break into unless you are willing to travel or move while cutting your teeth.
Hope this helps and I will reply to PMs when I have posted enough to unlock that option.
Respectfully,
Matt

Matthew_RN · May 25, 2011

I have mostly worked with McKesson and HMS. I also have a Cerner background tho not as deep as the first two.

I think I mistyped in my first message. I have not done system sales. Normally you have to have a strong sales background for capital equipment sales. I do not really want to put who I work for on here. I will in a PM but I do not want to send praise or complaints about my current position on an open forum.

The hardest challenge and peev is the silo effect. We tend to work with specific modules within a product. For example you may work with order entry modules and your co-worker may work documentation modules. We tend to silo. The silo can be great because you become a specialist but, it can be bad because people tend to shy away from task or issues that fall into a gray area of two modules. For example: when documenting an assessment you may want the system to trigger an order for a wound consult based off the braden scale results. For that to happen you need a conditional order to occur within the ordering module. Depending on how the order is built it may or may not show in a portal product. This can be good or bad. As you see I am outlining how you have to have a team approach and a lot of the time that just does not happen.

My best advice to OP who wants to move (I believe it was to Boston): look at what systems hospitals have there and try to find one in their area with the same system. Try to work there or with the vender.

Matthew_RN · May 25, 2011

QA

QA is mostly testing. Most places have scripts (fake charts) telling the tester to enter a X here or Y there and you should see this result. Did you Y or N.

If you are doing a full conversion from one product to another you also look at parallel testing. Take a chart from medical records, enter all the data into the new system. Does the basic info look and feel the same. You may have some report differences (layout and such) but, is the info there and is it in a layout the endusers can use.

In both cases of conversion and upgrades you also have to look at revenue. Did all charges flow as expected.

rninformatics, DNP, RN · May 25, 2011

I understand and respect your desire related to not posting your employer on the open Forum.

We have many here who contribute in anonymity.

If OP is in Boston - Meditech is headquartered there and has a very strong market share in that area.

Thanks for sharing Matt and hope to see you post more here.

I have mostly worked with McKesson and HMS. I also have a Cerner background tho not as deep as the first two.
I think I mistyped in my first message. I have not done system sales. Normally you have to have a strong sales background for capital equipment sales. I do not really want to put who I work for on here. I will in a PM but I do not want to send praise or complaints about my current position on an open forum.
The hardest challenge and peev is the silo effect. We tend to work with specific modules within a product. For example you may work with order entry modules and your co-worker may work documentation modules. We tend to silo. The silo can be great because you become a specialist but, it can be bad because people tend to shy away from task or issues that fall into a gray area of two modules. For example: when documenting an assessment you may want the system to trigger an order for a wound consult based off the braden scale results. For that to happen you need a conditional order to occur within the ordering module. Depending on how the order is built it may or may not show in a portal product. This can be good or bad. As you see I am outlining how you have to have a team approach and a lot of the time that just does not happen.
My best advice to OP who wants to move (I believe it was to Boston): look at what systems hospitals have there and try to find one in their area with the same system. Try to work there or with the vender.

Matthew_RN · May 25, 2011

Another idea for jobs.

Look around your hospital at all the equipment you use on a daily basis. These vender's also need healthcare professionals for sales, install and training.

Who do you use for drug dispense?

How about Rad? Who do you use for PACs

Suppliers of products that need people to educate hospital staff. (Defibrillator, surgical preps, beds, etc..) These may not be true IS positions but, they will get you introduced to doing product training with endusers. Not such a far jump to doing software education.

Also, get involved with your hospitals educators.

ikarus01 · May 25, 2011

Just my two cents....last 2 of my friends (at the time with zero experience in informatics) were looking for entry level jobs in the NI field in the boston area, and as the op noted, employers in those areas want experienced candidates; the biggest health care there i think is partners? They run soarian and then another hospital nearby has meditech, and one more (children's) has cerner. My friends tried all types of techniques to try to get an interview, but all these places wanted experienced candidates.

They eventually got jobs in different areas of the country, but maybe it is best to look all over the country and take whatever job is willing to train you and sacrifice a year or 2 in another region as the jobs are out there; but if you have no experience, and you don't work in a setting where you could volunteer as a superuser, trainer, etc, then finding a job in the boston area might not be as easy. However, maybe apply to meditech directly?

Best of luck!

rninformatics, DNP, RN · May 25, 2011

If I remember correctly last year there was a horrible slump in this industry/job market that made it hard all over the US to secure a position. I think you may find that things are just poppin like crazy all over. Although yes take that with a grain of salt as depending on geographical location the employer may be more into experience or sometimes more so into credentials and advance degrees. It all depends. Apply give it a shot - nothing beats a failure but a try!