Nursing Informatics | A Day in the Life

The rapid adoption of electronic health records around the nation has certainly galvanized the interest in informatics. More importantly, it has created a large demand for individuals that are equipped to be a liason between the clinical and technical domains in healthcare.
In today's video, I'll be interviewing a panel of Informatics Nurses about a variety of topics in regards to this nascent profession in hopes of providing more insight into this unique career path.
//Contact information
Benjamin T. Nelson
Erin A. Henderson
Jared M. Ross
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//Disclaimer
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[@skoopqueen]

[@eadad4371]

Not quite long I started investing. I'm very curious and need help on how to enhance and increase my returns. Any good investment tips would be appreciated

[@skoopqueen.]

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[@eadad4371]

@@skoopqueen. That’s great , your investment advisor must be really good,I have seen testimonies of people using the help of investment advisors in making them more financial stable. Do you mind sharing more info on this person?

[@skoopqueen.]

@@eadad4371 look her up on the internet and leave her a message she's quite popular for her services as she was recently featured on cnn. She can work with anyone irrespective of where their located

[@emeldcentor1474]

@@skoopqueen. I have had the intentions of starting investing. But I always thought it was late and I think I need to stop procrastinating. I will definitely 🔍 Regina Louise Collaro and see what she can advise .Thanks a lot . This was of so much help to me .

[@kevingranger7841]

Very well done, you asked great questions and had 3 different nurses with different backgrounds. Super helpful thanks!

[@briankfung]

Glad it was helpful!

[@kunduzrouse5088]

Good information. Thanks for sharing ❤️🎉

[@xxBorn2Bluvd89xx]

This has been helpful. Good tips👍

[@briankfung]

They were an awesome panel!

[@NaptuRo90]

This was very helpful and ensightful thank you☺️

[@briankfung]

Glad you found it helpful!!

[@airabalino3610]

You are all inspiring. I hope someday I'll be also one speaking in front of camera sharing my story of success in the nursing field.😇

[@briankfung]

And you'll get there one day :)

[@hartnurz]

Wow, such a great, informati ve well rounded piece. Thank you very much.

[@briankfung]

I'm so glad you found it helpful!!

[@jeremywolk927]

Thank you so much, I found out about this field 5 yrs ago and I just now I am able to proceed it. Thank you so much great questions and nice presentation. Love it.

[@briankfung]

That's awesome Jeremy! Glad to have you as a colleague and thanks for stopping by :)

[@zainabadebayo6483]

thank u this was so helpful

[@briankfung]

glad it was helpful!

[@krystallaben1610]

Hey Brian I’m so glad you do these videos!! It’s Kryzol, I’ve been working as a nurse for a couple years. Interested in informatics, that’s awesome how I found this! Thanks for making a video on this, Keep up the good work!

[@briankfung]

What a small world!! I hope you’re doing well :). Yes! Please come join me in the dark side lol. Informatics is a great field and I hope to expose more healthcare people to it! Let me know if you ever have questions!

[@krystallaben1610]

Brian Fung yes what a small world!! I find it interesting and would like to possibly pursue it down the road. Thanks Brian good luck on all your endeavors :)

[@briankfung]

I hope you do :). And if you do.....let me know!!

[@josephmusumbu8310]

Very useful Discussion i totally recommend to any students doing informatics.

[@briankfung]

Informatics is quite awesome :)

[@josephmusumbu8310]

Please send me an email to [e-mail] I got something for you concerning informatics.

[@briankfung]

Thanks Joseph. Can you provide additional details on what you're offering?

[@sshaw8490]

This is good!

[@briankfung]

thanks for the support!

[@jansmith8048]

How would one go about finding a position in this field? When I do a general search on websites such as indeed nothing really populates

[@briankfung]

Hi Jan! That's precisely what I would do. However, I usually use google. From my experience, health informatics jobs seem to come in a variety of flavors in terms of job postings. For informatics nurse, I see things from "clinical informatics specialist" to "informatics nurse" to "registered nurse - informatics". Google usually handles these searches quite well and I'd recommend trying multiple variations and reading the job requirements to determine if it actually is a posting for a nurse. It can be a bit confusing. Hope that helps!

[@bobomee]

Plan on doing this but im not doing 13 year of nursing first. I think technology has evolve for a new nurse to pursue the field of informatics . Bedside care experience is a plus but i don't think it's a must.

[@briankfung]

Hey bobomee! I’d agree that it’s not a must and 13 years is likely more than you need, though, as someone who arguably went straight into pharmacy informatics (I did 2 years of residency which is technically work experience), I certainly think bedside care or any practice experience isn’t needed, but certainly very beneficial. Aside from sheer experience, there is also additional clout you get from your end users you work with because you can relate to their experiences. Conversely, I have a lot of friends that jumped into informatics from all disciplines without any practice experience.

[@johns6504]

The problem is....IT will come to you and ask...what are nursing issues, what do nurses need, what is a nurses workflow, how will nurses be affected by implementing "xyz," etc??? I do not see how one can effectively answer these questions without nursing experience. Sure, you can go ask nurses....but that is why they hired a nurse!! So that you would already have these answers and even be able to communicate effectively with nurses. I just saw a nursing informatics position that required 2 years of perioperative nursing experience!! Why? Because even I, with 12 years ER nursing experience, do not understand the intricacies, workflow, issues, even terminology of a periop nurse. Just something to think about. Best of luck to you!!

[@bobomee]

@@briankfung yes some experience is relevant however 12 years is not necessary . As you said even you with 12 years experience don't know it all. this is the healthcare field . There is always something new to learn

[@salomonmontalvojr.7958]

I think any prudent nursing professional would agree with a 3-5 yr bedside experience prereq before pursuing ANY advanced nursing program/specialization (some of that time can be concurrent if you started off as an LVN and continued working full-time on to your BSN), it would help you to better understand the day to day practice and limitations of what it truly takes for modern American healthcare to see and safely treat their local population. In my experience in med/surg/ICU/CVICU, and now ED - every one of these aspects of the hospital work within the same holistic software program but within ENTIRELY different applications of the software and ALL of these hospital areas are requiring more and MORE documentation on what seems like a daily basis. Imagine how difficult it would be for you to play catch up with the bedside nurses who look to you for your advanced knowledge when you have only been at bedside for a minimal amount of contact hours and actually NEVER even stepped foot on their unit before? I think 3-5 years is minimal but adequate because you could never really see every aspect of the software used at your facility and there are always new patches and even entirely new programs implemented all of the time.

[@mayacarraway8953]

@@johns6504 I think a good 3-5 years should suffice for nursing experience to become an informatics nurse. I have been a nurse for two years and can pinpoint EMR issues on my floor from experiencing it first hand

[@georgeacenas2349]

Terms like end user and build sound like IT. 20 years as a nurse, and note impact of US data driven healthcare. Metrics are commonplace as I see it as a nurse care manager.

[@AshleyNoon]

I appreciate the insist from this video. I am currently in nursing school and they haven’t covered too much about this. It’s something I can see myself doing in the future. ( I’ll get back to you in 2 years lol).

[@briankfung]

Glad you found it helpful! Lots of different paths in nursing and informatics is only one of them :). Good luck!

[@nicholaspoloukhine1761]

2 year follow up? 😃

[@douglasquaid1711]

In both videos when asked about the typical day I feel like one of the Bobs in Office Space listening to the "I have people skills!" guy explain what he does at Innotech. I am unclear as to what it is exactly they do, which makes me think they don't do much of anything.

[@briankfung]

Hey Douglas! Thanks for the comment. The lack of clarity can likely be attributed to my questioning than it is their responses. While I’m not an informatics nurse, much of ‘informatics’ in these types of roles are to be a liaison between the practice (eg nurses on the front lines) and tech (eg programmers, developers, report writers). That typically manifests in the form of meetings (to identify issues, solutions, build needed, timelines, etc), build/test (where either the liaison or dedicated builders would build & test into the actual system), and a lot of emails that can range from general questions about the system, future enhancements, broken things in the system, etc. Ultimately, this makes the day to day of individuals in informatics very different. Albeit, I’m also over generalizing as well. I’m planning on releasing future videos on what I specifically do on a day to day basis to better elucidate this industry. Hope that helps!

[@C3yl0]

Douglas Quaid in simple words they create softwares that they can use inside their organization to communicate and store data. The it department in the nursing department.

[@yamunachauhan440]

@@C3yl0 they said that they don't have to do anything with coding, so it is impossible that they create software without knowing any coding language. This is what I think.

[@mayacarraway8953]

@@yamunachauhan440 I think by create software, she means communicates design ideas to coders. They know what would work best for nurses essentially when it comes to EMR's

[@mistyb8697]

What a great video! This is helping me understand what this field is, better than my boring textbook! I'm just starting an informatics class in a few days.

[@briankfung]

lol @ the boring textbook. I'm glad you found the video informative and i hope you enjoy your informatics class! Let me know how it goes. I'm hoping to work in some more nursing informatics videos in the future :)

[@mistyb8697]

@@briankfung ok!

[@danielboende7636]

How long it takes for the program?

[@briankfung]

Hey Espi! Let me ask my nursing colleagues about this. Most of them did part-time programs since they were also working a full time or near full time job as well. They took around 2-2.5 years I believe. I’m not sure about full time programs though. I’ll get back to you on this!

[@salomonmontalvojr.7958]

Dude, thank you for making this video, I am an RN (BSN) of 3 yrs bedside experience in med/surg, M/S ICU, CVICU, and now ER/ED and I have been trying to find more information on MSN of Informatics Nursing online. Your previous vid of the one informatics nurse and this panel have provided some of the best content/info I have found, this has been very helpful and keep this vids coming! I'm beginning to heavily lean towards going back to school for this specialty, it seems like an area where a lot of innovation is ongoing and much more on the way!

[@W0JMR]

Check out Walden University. They have a great online option that allows you to work and get your Masters in Nursing Informatics.

[@briankfung]

Salomon! I'm so glad you found it helpful!! Your comment absolutely made my day. Best of luck in your journey!

[@briankfung]

:)

[@Moriningland]

So many informatics videos provide only vague descriptions of what they actually do without clear and concise examples. I wish Someone could just provide a real world example of at least one care related task they were involved in. Our charting system is frustrating because it seems things change for no reason it seems and after a short period of time no one knows where to correctly chart anything. Years ago though an update was made to where scanning a Vancomycin dose caused an alert to pop up if a Vancouver trough was noticed in the chart or if one hadn’t been done in a certain period of time. Those are the types of changes they make me passionate about informatics. Create sage guards in the system that make errors as close to impossible as you can get. These informatics people really haven’t provided real world examples that would be meaningful to front line nurses

[@briankfung]

I definitely agree with informatics videos being a bit vague. In fact, I think all of my videos are quite vague. However, I will say for this video it was more due to my interview questions rather than the responses provided by them. With that said, I do appreciate the feedback and I'll plan to work on my interviewing to solicit more concrete answers from the people I interview!

[@donneece3600]

Very thorough and helpful video. I got almost all the answers I need to know about the job. Thank you so much Brian!

[@briankfung]

I'm so glad you found it helpful! I'm working on doing some more about nursing informatics in the future so stay tuned!!

[@darlenebartos3889]

Hi Brian, do you have any idea how many credits are needed for an informatics certification? Or do you need a full masters in informatics? I’m wondering how much it will cost to get that degree or certification. An MSN Costs around $70k... yikes!

[@briankfung]

Hey Darlene! Are you referring to the informatics nursing certification (RN-BC)? If yes, it seems you can meet it with a bachelors + 30 hours of CE & X practice hours in last 3 years. Alternatively, a masters would confer eligibility too. www.nursingworld.org/our-certifications/informatics-nurse/. Hope that helps! Anecdotally, I do see many of my nursing informatics colleagues with a MSN. $70k is quite steep......

[@darlenebartos3889]

Brian Fung this is so awesome! I’d like to break into Nrsg Informatics however w Covid there have been hospital layoffs in informatics and so the position here is popular and many are applying for it who lost their job(s) at the competitive hospital.. I have medical device sales and clinical support experience that lends itself to the training and rounding on units. I’m still going to keep trying. Yeah I thought $70k was allot of money too. I already have an MBA.

[@briankfung]

The layoffs are definitely unfortunate. Hopefully it'll be back on the upswing soon - I've been seeing some hospitals turn around in the last month. I think some individuals may consider an MBA an alternative to an MSN - that's super awesome. Good luck!!

[@USERKINGING]

An MSN cost $3k for 6 months at WGU!

[@spiritcalmness2153]

Great interview ...appreciate your time and efforts you did to accomplish this job. best wishes and regards.

[@briankfung]

Thanks for the supportive and kind words!

[@aggropa]

Great information. I really appreciate the tips, and being able to hear from people with so much experience.

[@briankfung]

thanks for watching!

[@iStorm-my5fp]

How much do they get paid

[@btowngolfr812]

Damn I was wondering the same thing

[@briankfung]

Based on another nursing informatics interview I did, informatics nurses appear to have salaries that are on par with your general floor nurses. Of course, geographical location, organization, & position (e.g. informatics nurse, vs. informatics nurse specialist, vs. CNIO) will alter that. Glassdoor is usually has some decent info on this too

[@graceszymanski7578]

Hey Brian thanks for making this video! This was very helpful. Been thinking of wanting to go into this speciality. ☺

[@briankfung]

You’re very welcome Grace! Glad you found it beneficial :)

[@ShannonRoseMoran]

what are the salary expectations for nursing Informatics?

[@briankfung]

it probably differs quite a bit based on where you live and which org you go to, but median probably around 100k (www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/nursing-informatics-salary-SRCH_KO0,19.htm). I usually think of it as a the level of a manager or supervisor.

[@montana19nivera]

What is the difference between nursing informatics and information technology?

[@briankfung]

The way I usually like to think of it, is that information technology is about knowing what you CAN do and nursing (or any other clinical area) informatics is knowing what you SHOULD do.

[@montana19nivera]

@@briankfung thank you. Thinking of going back to school so just doing research

[@andycheng2191]

"The diaphragm is a skeletal muscle." IYKYK.

[@briankfung]

:)

[@steffystephen7280]

Hello Brian! I am a Registered Nurse in Texas, I have BSN (from India), I wanted to ask if you could please guide me about the criteria/ requirements for Nursing Informatics? Is it necessary to do a MSN degree for informatics?

[@briankfung]

Hi Steffy, it’s likely institution specific. I’ve seen some that required it and some that didn’t. Anecdotally speaking, I see a 50/50 split in informatics nurses who have MSNs vs those who don’t

[@RakeshSingh-dx3tq]

Hi Brian, I am a LPN gradate and worked in IT consulting in the past, I got interested in Nursing informatics when I saw this video, and would like to know what is the minimum qualification to pursue the degree in nursing informatics.

[@briankfung]

It probably differs by organization, but in my anecdotal experience, I’ve seen most of my nursing informatics colleagues with a masters degree or higher. If they didn’t have it, they were working towards it. Here’s another video that talks about it briefly: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r4PFi56LoaqHppY

[@colleenb8986]

I am extremely interested in the informatics area and have been a registered nurse for almost 7 years now with an ASN. I've really taken on the role of technology guru and have flourished with helping others working alongside me (as well as some patients, when it comes to their portal or tech) with how to best navigate some of the technology challenges that inevitably arise day to day as well as being a go-to source for confusing things or new developments in our EMR system. I love these aspects of my job and they really make me happy but I've known for a while that I am not really interested in progressing my nursing education and am seeing and hearing a lot of MSN references in my beginning research of the informatics field. Can anyone share any information as far as if this is going to end up being a must in a progression into informatics?

[@briankfung]

Hoping some informatics nurses will chime in here as my perspective is from the pharmacy perspective. My thoughts, primarily reflective of anecdotal experiences, are that MSNs appear to be the norm amongst my nursing informatics colleagues. However, there are also a few that I've seen get into nursing informatics without it because they had a talent for technology and informatics. I'm also generalizing in that I think good employers would hire an individual for an informatics position if the individual has potential. Hopefully that's helpful! Good luck.

[@dee27206]

Sounds so boring omg

[@briankfung]

Some people find it boring, others find it interesting :). Job security for individuals like me haha