CAREER GUIDE MSN—Nursing Informatics

Electronic Medical Records (EMRs). “Smart” IV pumps. Prescription barcoding. The IT industry has transformed how today’s healthcare industry interacts with, plans, and manages patient care. To meet the growing need for RNs who have advanced their knowledge and skills to include expertise in computer science and information science, a hybrid career called nursing informatics has emerged. 

Nursing informatics specialists design, develop, implement, and evaluate health information systems to deliver and coordinate care across multiple settings. A majority work in hospitals and healthcare facilities, but the field is expanding rapidly, and the demand is growing in academic institutions, government agencies, managed care facilities, and insurance companies. This has created fierce competition for career-focused nurses with hybrid skills and relevant credentials.

With opportunities ripe for advancement throughout the healthcare industry, most nursing informatics specialists pursue a post-graduate degree, according to the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). If you're ready to take your nursing career in an exciting new direction, concentrate on mastering your knowledge of relevant topics, including data science and analytics, informatics system analysis and design, and applied healthcare statistics. 

Nursing informatics has evolved to become an integral part of our healthcare system, and it’s having an impact on the job market. For registered nurses, employment is projected to grow 15 percent by 2026 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Factor into that the growing importance placed upon reining in healthcare costs while shaping decisions that improve patient outcomes, and the demand for career-focused informatics nurse specialists can be expected to rise even higher. 

The median annual wage for registered nurses was $70,000 in May 2017, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. Factor in the specialized skills of nurse informatics specialists surveyed by HIMSS, and compensation rises dramatically. Respondents who held a certification in nursing informatics tended to have a higher salary than those without certification; more than half (55 percent) of those with certification make more than $100,000 a year, compared with 37 percent of those without certification. Clearly, specialized knowledge and skills can pay significant dividends for motivated nursing professionals ready to pursue a new direction in their careers.