Which way to go?

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I have an associates degree in nursing and have been a nurse for 9 years. I am looking into getting away from bedside nursing. I have been looking into Western Governors University into their BS in health informatics degree and their BSN. My husband is worried that I will be unable to get a job with the health informatics degree here in SC and would like for me to go the BSN route. I personally think I would like the health informatics. What do you think about job security, etc?

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Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

it really depends on the market in your area. For sure, all hospitals and most MD offices are having to convert to electronic documentation. The IT people are leery of nurses moving in to their territory, so a BSN would be more flexible. You can then get a certificate in Informatics or finish the degree program for that.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

My organization has a LOT of nurse informatics positions.... all require BSN -MSN or certificate in Informatics is required for higher-level positions. This is a growing career field.

My $0.02? Go for the BSN & look for a online certificate program in informatics... you can find a lot of information on these programs on the AMIA website.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Oncology, School Nursing, OB.

My advice would be to skip the BSN and go straight to MSN if you can and get your IT certification with it. That will give you the most options so if you can't find an IT job or decide you don't like it as well as you thought you will have lots of other options with your Master's away from the bedside. I have a BSN but almost any position away from the bedside wants a Master's or working towards one esp now that hospitals are wanting all their floor nurses to have a BSN.

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