Nurses who are looking to move beyond their current occupation and into a new healthcare field have an inside track into one of the industry’s hottest occupations: health informatics.
A degree in health informatics has never been more accessible as more and more schools are moving their programs online. Many also now offer accelerated degree programs, allowing students to quickly obtain their degrees.
The federal mandate for medical service providers to move to electronic records by January 2014 is helping spur growth in the field. A staff member who is knowledgeable about health informatics is going to be a key employee at medical facilities in the coming years.
The Advantage of Being a Nurse
Those who already own a nursing license have the advantage of being in the health care field and knowing the ins and outs of providing medical service. This inside information often can give them the edge when seeking jobs in health informatics.
The nurses who will have the best chance for performing well are those with an interest in and an aptitude for information technology. There is even a term – nursing informatics – for those nurses with an interest in both nursing and technology.
According to the American Nurses Association, nursing informatics “integrates nursing science, computer science and information science to manage and communicate data, information, knowledge and wisdom in nursing practice.”
Those who enter the field become an informatics nurse. They can become informatics nurse specialists by earning post-degree certificates in specific areas, such as biomedical informatics or information management.
On-the-job training used to be enough, but increasingly earning a formal degree is viewed by employers as essential to gaining employment in health informatics.
How to Take Advantage of Online Education
The number of online accelerated degree programs has risen as online education has grown in the past few years. By going into an accelerated program, students can complete their degree far sooner than if they went the traditional route. Because of this, one of the major stumbling blocks to earning a degree -– the amount of time it will take to complete the program –- is eliminated. Rather than the four years it typically takes to complete a bachelor’s degree program, a student can often finish in just two years.
The online option also allows students to schedule classes around work or family time, giving them more flexibility to go to class and earn their degree. Another big advantage is that an online class can be taken from any location.
Some tips to remember when entering an accelerated program include:
- Be proactive, always staying on top of assignments. Putting things off can lead to disaster because of the speed of the course.
- Develop relationships with classmates, supporting each other and studying together. Stay engaged.
- Start the class from the first day prepared to succeed and ready to work hard.
- Know going in that you will have to juggle work, kids and school – and make plans to handle that as best you can.
Five Areas of Employment in Health Informatics
There are five primary areas for nurses who wish to move into health informatics, according to the American Nurse Today website.
Clinical informatics. In this area, nurses may focus on technical aspects of development and evaluation of systems, or they may focus on assessing the needs of a facility for a system as well as the marketing and implementation of that system. Some in this area also bring clinical experience into play, using technology to improve patient care, including improving communication between different medical teams.
Consumer-health informatics. In this area, those working in nurse informatics would specialize in utilizing electronic media to reach more people with programs that promote healthy living, disease prevention and self-management of health care. This area typically requires research into what patients need in terms of communication about health care and the best way to reach them, as well as designing information systems that address consumers’ preferences.
Public health informatics. This is considering a fledging field, according to American Nurse Today. In this area, nurse informatics take community health information and determine the best way to synthesize and distribute that information to the community, healthcare professionals and policy makers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, working with state and municipal health departments, has found areas where public health informatics can be especially beneficial, including: developing a public healthcare network for sharing information between federal, state and local agencies; improving biosurveillance programs by quickly sharing information about health threats and improving both the collection and security of vital statistics.
Research in nursing informatics. Those who work in this area specialize in assessing the technological needs of an organization and whether they have the equipment on hand to meet those needs. They also research the best way to use new technology and how it will impact the work flow of an organization.
Doctorate of Nursing Practice. Those who have attained a doctoral degree in nursing as well as a degree or training in health informatics can use that education to find ways of using informatics systems and tools to better patient care. At this level, a nurse will likely take a direct hand in developing standards for information systems.
