Advertisement
Advertisement
|
Home :: Career Center
:: Healthcare Career Profiles :: Nursing Career Profiles
Nursing Informatics Specialist - Career Profile |
Career OverviewThe term informatics refers to information technology, its elements and application in a general way. Technology and information technology play a major role in hospital operations, in the general health care system, and in patient care.
The nursing specialization in informatics reflects the need for nurses, as well as physicians and specialists, to use ever more sophisticated equipment in diagnostic and treatment procedures, and the need for nurses to be competent in the use of computers, which is a competency central to the nurse's ability to monitor patients.
Nursing Informatics takes the relationship of nurses with computers to a much more sophisticated level and demonstrates the significance of information technology to nursing and the general health care injury.
Computer systems are being used to store patient information and patient history as well as monitor patient's vital signs and alert staff to any critical changes in a patient's conditions. These systems now act as tools which are significant to diagnostic purposes and to monitoring treatment progress.
Whilst a fundamental knowledge of computers is a requirement for all nursing professionals if not all medical professionals, Nursing Informatics Specialists are bridging the gap between clinical information, the medical field, and computer programming.
Nursing Informatics Specialist are sometimes involved in the development of clinical software, they can also work as program analysts, and system managers to benefit the administration of the medical system.
|
Career RequirementsTo become a nursing informatics specialist, candidates would usually have a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing and some form of formal training and education in Nursing Informatics.
Although many combine their specialties in nursing with some certified experience in information technology, including software development, systems management, and computer programming.
|
Advertisement
|
Job OutlookIn the next decade, nursing will be one of the top 10 fastest growing professions in the United States according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Health care facilities will be looking to cut back on general costs but also to integrate the effective use of technology into the treatment and management of patients.
The future looks bright in the nursing field, with the number of jobs for registered nurses expected to increase at a rate far greater than that of most other jobs in the next couple of years.
Over the next decade or so, the nursing profession is expected to change as well. The ability to use technology to monitor patients and offer advanced programs to store information about patient records is a very useful tool in modern healthcare, thus Nursing Informatics Specialist will have an important role to play in shaping the future of nursing and medical practice.
The role of the nursing informatics specialist is and will remain a vital ingredient to ensure the use of information technology to improve the delivery of healthcare services.
|
Career TrackNursing Informatics Specialists have the credentials and the opportunity to gain experience that will allow them to take on numerous responsibilities in the field of medicine to facilitate the use of information technology in the care of patients.
The career track of every Nurse Informatics Specialist may vary considerably because they have considerable autonomy over how they use information technology in nursing. Regardless they have an excellent foundation to excel in advanced patient care or to apply their skills to an administrative, educational, or consulting position to improve the care of all patients using technology.
Wherever your ambitions take you, the qualifications and experience of working as a Nursing Informatics Specialist is likely to help you get there. Nursing Informatics Specialists have the opportunity to work in hospitals, in special clinics, and in general health centers, working support the integration of computers into the health care system.
|
CompensationAlthough compensation for Nurse Informatics Specialist varies according to their levels of seniority and areas of specialization, the annual pay is generally equal to that of a nurse practitioner, depending on the nature of their qualifications and the extent of their specialty in information technology and computer programming.
- Nursing informatics specialist: $60,000 to $125,000
- Emergency room nurse: $45,000 to $70,000
- Licensed practical nurse: $35,000 to $45,000
- Nurse practitioner: $60,000 to $125,000
- Nurse supervisor: $55,000 to $85,000
- Registered nurse: $40,000 to $65,000
|
|