Will other IT certifications help me obtain a Nursing Informatics position?

[ChristopherB, BSN, RN]

I've been a critical care nurse for almost 13 years. I've been thinking for a while about going into Nursing Education or Nursing Informatics. I still haven't decided which one.

Previously to going back to school to become a RN, I worked in the IT field. I started out with my own PC repair and building business. Then I worked for a consulting company and worked on Y2K projects(yes I'm that old), DOD contracts, mainframe computer code documentation projects, and some other things. After that I was the network administrator at financial institution and ran online banking, email, LAN/WAN at multiple locations, and also managed network security. After that I worked for Xerox at various customer sites doing work involved with network printing and UNIX.

During that time I obtained some Microsoft certifications, but all of them are obsolete now. If I got back to school for an informatics degree, would it also be very beneficial to also obtain some Microsoft, Cisco, and/or IT security certifications to make obtaining a job after I finish a master's degree or is that unnecessary?

[ikarus01]

Nursing informatics, in terms of configuring a vendor's software, doesn't really need those certifications form MS, cisco, etc. So yea, I wouldn't waste the time or money in those certifications as they aren't really needed to work in informatics.

[labordude, BSN, RN]

Employers have no idea what to do with dual skill-set people, it's sad really. I've been in your shoes and it's really a pain in the ***.