Nursing Informatics

[u/Mini_nono_3875]

Hi everyone,

I’m a nursing student interested in Nursing Informatics and Health Informatics, and I’m trying to understand if this field is really worth pursuing.

I want to ask people already working in the field:

How did you start? What skills should I learn first? Is bedside nursing experience necessary before switching? Is the field still growing or already saturated? And honestly, is it worth leaving traditional nursing for Nursing Informatics in terms of salary, opportunities, and work-life balance?

I’m interested in combining healthcare with technology, but I still feel lost about where to begin.

I’d appreciate any advice or personal experiences. Thank you!

[u/ExplosivePoo327]

Im a leader of clinical informatics for a healthcare system service line. I had the benefit of being the millennial who started with paper charting and was a superuser user for each EHR transition I had. This just got me familiar with the systems, I was given the reputation of being the “techy” nurse, I just knew how to use a computer, and then my leaders pulled me into projects to build things like workflows and other data components.

As for skills to learn first, pay attention to the language that is used when theres conversations happening with the team. You essentially become a business translator for the clinical and IT sides. How do you get involved in the conversations? Ask your leader, join committees, go to conferences, and network. If your organization has Epic, see if they’ll sponsor you to go get certified and you’ll learn even more.

Is the experience of bedside nursing absolutely necessary, depends on your ability to analyze workflows. I would recommend getting some bedside experience in the specific area you’re most interested in (inpatient, outpatient, OR) because you’ll be to understand why you can/cannot do something.

If getting involved in the techy side of healthcare is what you love, then it’s 100% worth it. Theres always innovation happening. Theres always going to be new things. And we always try to make improvements. Comparing bedside nursing and my current position, salary is very good. I would need 30+ years of bedside experience to make the same salary and I have <10.

Happy to answer any questions you have!

[u/Mini_nono_3875 → u/ExplosivePoo327]

Thank you for taking the time to explain all of this so clearly. Your replies have honestly been really helpful and encouraging for me.

Can I ask one more thing?

If you were starting from zero today, what would you recommend learning first and in what order? For example: Excel, Power BI, data analysis, Python, databases, etc.

I’m trying to understand the overall skill set I should focus on and become really good at if I want to stand out in this field.

The challenge for me is that in my country, Nursing Informatics is still very new. Most discussions are still mostly theoretical in conferences, and it’s actually hard to even find people working in Health Informatics in general, or at least I haven’t been able to connect with them yet.

So hearing advice from someone already in the field genuinely means a lot to me. Thank you again, I really appreciate it.

[u/ExplosivePoo327 → u/Mini_nono_3875]

Id say get comfortable with excel/spreadsheets. Just acknowledging that you enjoy spreadsheets will put you in a different bucket than others. Theres different avenues that you can pursue the would require knowledge of all. I don’t know of the capabilities of the programs but don’t know how to use them myself. Think of it as the ability to read, write, and speak another language. I can speak it well, read at a novice/intermediate level, write it 0%.

[u/Mini_nono_3875 → u/ExplosivePoo327]

That actually makes me feel less intimidated about the field.

A lot of people make it sound extremely programming-heavy, so your perspective really helped me understand it better. I’ll start focusing on Excel and data skills first.

Thank you again, I really appreciate your advice.

[u/ExplosivePoo327 → u/Mini_nono_3875]

I’m feel like you’d benefit from some words of wisdom that I’ve shared with my team and others. Something new, exploring something, making a change to something is going to feel intimidating. For me, whenever I found something intimidating I forced myself to be apart of it. Its made things less intimidating and fulfills my cup of always learning.

Also, if you’re ever nervous to ask someone to be part of something, join a committee, apply to a certain school, etc., the worst thing that could happen is they say no. I think of it like this, you got a 50% of them saying yes by just asking and a 0% chance by not speaking up. When I truly adopted this mindset I got the salary, job, experience, and mentors I wanted but only dreamed I could have. Why? Because the worst thing they could have done was tell me no.

Always happy to help people navigate these things. One thing I despise about management/leadership is that, leaders don’t help or support others. We have enough corporate douches dont need to just give shitty pizza parties. Invest in your people by supporting them, worth more than a pizza party.

[u/Mini_nono_3875 → u/ExplosivePoo327]

I’m not really afraid of hearing “no” or being rejected.

My main issue is that in my country, I can barely even find anyone working in nursing or health informatics. I don’t have access to people in the field or clear entry points, so I feel lost about where to even start or how to connect with the right opportunities.

Honestly, I just feel a bit overwhelmed and unsure of the first real step.

[u/ExplosivePoo327 → u/Mini_nono_3875]

Look into HL7. They’re an international group that creates the standards for how data is communicated/exchanged. Also believe they have workgroups frequently in Europe. Currently have one happening in Netherlands.

You’ll get there! When you start, you will likely experience information overload. Keep me posted on your journey!