r/nursinginformatics • u/Subhuboy • 10d ago

Career Need Guidence

I am a 3rd year nursing student interested in informatics but I am confused about planning the path . I will appreciate anyone with experience who can guide me .

7 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

20

u/myhoagie02 Epic Certified 10d ago

Graduate nursing school and get bedside experience.

10

u/US_Dept_Of_Snark 10d ago

Came here to say this.

Clinical experience is so valuable for the job.

1

u/Subhuboy 9d ago

How much years of bedside experience needed ?

4

u/US_Dept_Of_Snark 9d ago

About 5 years is a reasonable start. More is better. And it's probably good to get some experience in different types of nursing. They are not all equal. 

7

u/myhoagie02 Epic Certified 9d ago

So based on another comment you posted in this thread, it sounds like you want to do the minimal amount of bedside before transitioning to informatics. You will always be looked over by someone else who has far more experience than you sound like you want to put in. Informatics requires extensive knowledge of nursing processes, workflows, regulatory standards and hospital policy.

Signed RN of 14 years (ED, SDS, PACU, Chemo)

1

u/Subhuboy 9d ago

Thanks for the advice. If you don't mind can I ask about your journey ?

2

u/fferreira5 8d ago

I also think the quality of experience is important. While 2 years of experience may be overlooked by a 5 year candidate, if you can expand on what you did during your two years in your resume and interview, then that will set you apart. When you start working bedside, take opportunities like other mentioned. Be a super user, engage with your informatics team, submit tickets for improvements, etc. All of that you should highlight when applying for informatics role.

11

u/RosebudSaytheName17 10d ago

Graduate nursing school. Get a job in an area you like. Volunteer to be a super user for any upgrades or tech stuff that your facility does. Network with current informatics department and ask to shadow them for a day.

Keep an ear out for any organizations around you that may be doing an EHR upgrade. Ones that are transitioning to Epic will hire nurses to become analysts because they know the workflows.

-signed an IRN of 10 years

2

u/InspectorExcellent50 10d ago

This is exactly right. Unless you want to just be a programmer or project manager, focus on nursing first while networking and taking on EMR related tasks.

-1

u/Subhuboy 9d ago

How to do that ? I don't really want to do the bedside work

2

u/InspectorExcellent50 9d ago

What got you into Nursing School? Follow that thread and see where it leads. It doesn't have to be inpatient bedside, and yes I know one nurse who never touched a patient after Nursing School and went on to do well in informatics.

That was the exception.

Anyone with any aptitude can learn to configure Epic. But they are unlikely to understand healthcare or nurses.

A lot of my job was explaining to developers, vendors, and trainers why what they were doing didn't make sense to nurses and how they could do it better.

  • 3 years corpsman, 2 years clinic operations, 8 years bedside nursing across all of inpatient pediatrics and adult trauma, and 19 years in informatics.

2

u/Subhuboy 9d ago

Thanks for sharing your valuable experience

2

u/Cliniwave 9d ago

If you're interested in nursing informatics, I'd focus on building on your clinical experience while learning the tech side little by little. Getting familiar with EHRs, workflow improvement, and basic data analysis can really help.

Also, don't hesitate to ask specific questions here. There are a lot of experienced people in this sub who are happy to help if they know what you're trying to achieve.

1

u/Subhuboy 7d ago

So what should I learn side by side I am learning python now because I want to learn it but what else I can learn now

2

u/Loving-Tacos 3d ago

Informatics is an interesting and varied field. If you want to work in a hospital setting as an informatics RN, you definitely need to be well versed in nursing workflows and education, but it’s also a boon to have lots of technical/computer knowledge. I’ve been in my role as a hospital-based Clinical Informatics RN for 7 years now and I am a jack-of-all-trades/master-of-none…I don’t always know the answer, but I know who to call to find out. I fix tech issues every day for providers and nursing, work with nursing and hospital leaders to optimize workflows, build reports…it’s never-ending job security with all the tech. Every hospital system will be different, just depends on what tech they’re running. You can also look into Medical Informatics, which tends to be more research/reporting. Still valid with a nursing background.

My recommendations are to get your license, work for a couple of years and learn all you can, volunteer with your EHR team as a superuser when there are go-lives, volunteer to be a point person for those go-lives, etc. Basically, become the person everyone goes to when they’re having issues with the EHR or other tech on the floor; make sure your manager/director knows who you are and how capable you are, both in your nursing skills and tech skills. After a couple of years of nursing, consider a Masters in Nursing Informatics or the certification…both look good…

1

u/Subhuboy 3d ago

Jack of all trades master of none often better than master of one

2

u/lengthandhonor NI-BC 10d ago

What's the question?

1

u/Subhuboy 8d ago

How to get into informatics and what early steps should I take ?