Nursing is a complex profession with many different jobs rolled into one package. With the same degree a nurse can work in a hospital intensive care unit, be a surgical nurse, work in a physician’s office or do home health. The different jobs open to a nurse in one career is almost endless. It’s a fascinating profession to enter.
Of the many types of nursing jobs, one of the recently added sub-specialization fields is that of nursing informatics. With the advent of EHR (electronic health records) this new area of nursing has become a great new career choice. Nursing informatics is now a recognized nursing specialty and nurses can become credentialed in this field. There are a few milestones to accomplish on the way to becoming certified.
Here’s an overview of nursing informatics jobs.
- Job Description: Nursing informatics deals mainly with managing the information that nurses need in order to respond quickly and efficiently to the patients. In general, healthcare informatics is the application of health information technology in a hospital setting. General informatics involves updating the data storage and data retrieval systems in hospitals to make patient information processing easier. Nursing informatics, on the other hand, is a specialized type of informatics that deals mainly with the information that nurses need. In a hospital, it is usually the nurses who handle the bulk of the information, while the doctors mainly analyze the information that is handed to them by the nurses. This is why a specialized type of informatics has been created for nurses.
- Education and Training: The education process for nursing informatics begins with a degree in nursing. The end goal here is a bachelor’s of science in nursing (BSN). Some nurses start out with a two year degree and then go back to school for the four year BSN. After that milestone is accomplished, it is time to work on the informatics education. For credentialing in nursing informatics, 12 hours of graduate level informatics in a nursing program is needed. Several schools now offer a Master’s of Science in Nursing with a concentrated study in informatics. A fair number of these programs can be completed by distance learning or online classes. Some nurses are grandfathered into nursing informatics with on-the-job training. However, as this specialty becomes more standardized and sought after, the degreed route will become essential.
- Work Options: Once you have your certification, you can begin applying for nursing informatics jobs in hospitals. At present, it is mostly hospitals that require nursing informatics specialists, since the information that nurses process in hospitals is the biggest and most difficult to manage. However, some nursing informatics specialists can also apply at large clinics or in government health agencies where nurses may also work. Vendors of EHR also hire nurse informatics specialists to help develop products and educate those who use their products. In general, a nursing informatics specialist is needed wherever there are large concentrations of nurses.
- Further Studies: Because the field of healthcare information technology in general, and nursing informatics in particular, is recently new, there are many new developments being made each year. In order to keep yourself abreast of all of the latest developments, it is important that you attend organizational seminars and conferences. A minimum number of continuing education hours in nursing informatics is crucial to maintaining certification.
- Salary Possibilities: This is a new field in nursing, so the salary range reflects the shortage of well-trained professionals. The low-end salary is around $58,000 and the high-end range is around $100,000 a year. The pay is generally higher on the coasts and in larger facilities. The best salaries are generally paid to those with a MSN working for vendors. It is difficult to find solid numbers regarding potential job growth in this field. However, with the advent of mandated EHR, this is definitely a growing field.
If you have an interest in information technology and you are considering nursing careers, then nursing informatics is the perfect job for you. For those who are currently in nursing and desire a change of pace, this may be an opportunity for broadening your skills. One of the best parts about nursing is the ability to have a career change and still stay in the profession. Nursing informatics combines the best of nursing and information technology.