Do I have to pay the application fee to be admitted?

Yes. You may talk to an Enrollment Counselor without paying the $65 application fee, but the fee must be paid before you can be admitted. The application fee helps defray our costs associated with admissions, transcript collection, enrolling students, etc. Note: It is against federal regulations to use financial aid for an application fee.

What is the deadline for transcript submission?

Transcripts must be received by the 1st of the month before your intended start date. WGU requires that ALL official transcripts of previous academic work completed at other colleges and universities be submitted for evaluation.

How does WGU keep its tuition so low?

As a nonprofit university, WGU doesn’t need to benefit shareholders. Our students are our only focus. We also try to keep our operating costs low. And since we’re an exclusively online university, we don’t need to maintain expensive classroom buildings, a campus, or other nonacademic programs.

Should I consider financial aid?

Using financial aid is a personal decision. When making this decision, you should know that a degree is a great investment in yourself that will pay for itself many times over. Individuals with a bachelor’s degree earn on average almost a million dollars more over the course their careers compared to those without one. A master’s degree typically has a similar impact on your wallet. You should definitely consider federal financial aid if it means the difference between getting your degree or not. Speak to an Enrollment Counselor to learn more.

Can a graduate of this program get into a nurse practitioner or other post-graduate nursing program?

Admissions requirements vary widely from program to program and from school to school. Nurse practitioner programs—including Master of Science in Nursing (MSN), Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), and post-MSN NP certificate programs—can be among the most competitive. One factor commonly considered for enrollment in post-graduate nursing programs is grade-point average (GPA) from previous college work. The nature of WGU’s competency-based model means WGU graduates do not have a GPA when they earn their degree. However, other factors beyond GPA are considered by many programs across the country. WGU provides opportunities for students to students to demonstrate excellence beyond a GPA, including participation in nationally recognized honors programs, real-world projects that you complete as part of your program that you can showcase in your post-graduate applications, and letters of recommendation from WGU faculty or leadership. For any aspiring graduate student, it is important to maximize your own qualities as well as do the research to understand the schools that offer the programs you seek to join. You can start your research by reviewing this list of post-graduate programs that have admitted WGU alumni in the past. Look on LinkedIn for WGU nursing alumni who have gone on to become nurse practitioners, and check their profiles to see which schools they attended for the MSN or DNP program. Contact the school to ask whether they enroll students from competency-based programs like WGU’s. And talk to your WGU Enrollment Counselor. WGU can provide alumni with a letter they can share with graduate schools, explaining our competency-based model. This letter has helped WGU alumni be accepted into a variety of graduate programs in a number of fields and disciplines.

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Health & Nursing Degrees
Nursing – Nursing Informatics (BSN-to-MSN Program) – M.S.

Master of Science Nursing Informatics Program (BSN-to-MSN Degree)

This nursing informatics degree combines the science of success with the art of care, helping you make a positive impact on the healthcare industry. Impact the healthcare industry with nursing informatics.

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Named a Center of Excellence™ in Nursing Education for creating environments that enhance student learning and professional development

The bachelor's and master's nursing degree programs at WGU are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (655 K Street, NW, Suite 750, Washington, DC 20001, 202-887-6791).

This online master's degree in nursing informatics gives you the education to join the force of healthcare workers impacting patient outcomes.

Information is power. Patient outcomes are better and healthcare organizations thrive when data is at the center of decision-making. This nursing informatics program combines nursing science with data management, analyzation, and communication, leading to data that empowers healthcare administrators to make the best choices. By earning this nursing informatics degree you will learn the skills which enable you to provide insights and influence policies and procedures that will save lives and improve patient outcomes.

This online degree program also includes clinical practice experiences such as real-time simulation using immersive virtual reality training. Additionally, you'll have the opportunity to earn the NAHQ (National Association for Healthcare Quality) HQ Principles certificate along with your degree, helping enhance your offering and earning you the respect of employers and peers in the health care industry.

Need to earn your BSN first? No problem! Check out the RN-to-MSN version of this program.

72% of graduates finish within

18 months

WGU lets you move more quickly through material you already know and advance as soon as you're ready. The result: You may finish faster.
See how it works

Tuition per 6-month term is

$4,240

Tuition charged per term—rather than per credit—helps you control the ultimate cost of your degree. Finish faster, pay less!
See how time is money

Transfer credit is accepted*

47%

of your coursework (up to 17 competency units) taken at the graduate (master's) level at a nationally or regionally accredited institution can be transferred to this WGU program.
Get started

Tuition as of August 1, 2021. *Effective for students starting Feb. 1, 2021. Courses must have been completed within the past five years with an earned grade of "B" or higher.

This master's in nursing informatics empowers you to use data to better communities.

Nurse informatics is a profession focused on delivering the best quality data, enhancing patient outcomes, and contributing to a better healthcare experience. This degree program uniquely qualifies you for this exciting profession centered on giving back to others. Join thousands of WGU graduates who are hard at work, making a difference and improving health outcomes.

Learn more
Curriculum focused on ensuring you have the skills you need to excel in your nurse informatics career.

The WGU MSN – Nursing Informatics curriculum is evidence-based. Students learn to apply systems-thinking strategies and master the skill of transforming data into wisdom that better serves the healthcare needs of diverse populations. We take the science of success and combine it with the art of caring to ensure you're prepared for this exciting profession in health care.

Download Program Guide

In this online MSN program, you will develop knowledge related to the complexities of healthcare like access to quality services and costs for diverse populations. In the nursing informatics specialization, you'll become an expert at applying systems-thinking strategies to transform data into wisdom and using current technologies to work with teams across disciplines for the development and implementation of health education programs, evidence-based practices, and point-of-care policies.
MSN Core

Nursing courses that are core to your MSN degree work include:

Professional Presence and Influence

Translational Research for Practice and Population

Advanced Information Management and the Application of Technology

Organizational Leadership and Interprofessional Team Development

Pathopharmacological Foundations for Advanced Nursing Practice

Comprehensive Health Assessment for Patients and Populations

Essentials of Advanced Nursing Practice Field Experience

Policy, Politics, and Global Health Trends

See all courses
Nursing Science and Informatics

Courses specific to nursing science and your nursing informatics specialty include:

Advanced Information Management and the Application of Technology

Foundations in Nursing Informatics

Informatics System Analysis and Design

Data Science and Analytics

Data Modeling and Database Management Systems

Nursing Informatics Field Experience

Nursing Informatics Capstone

See all courses
Why WGU?

Learn why healthcare professionals love WGU:

Flexible. You can continue working at your full-time job or maintaining your responsibilities while attending school. You don't have to log-in to classes and there aren't due dates. You are in charge of your degree.

Valued by employers. Top accreditations mean that your degree is respected by employers and peers. You will get a quality education that is valuable in the industry.

Strong alumni network. When you enroll in the nursing informatics program at WGU, you join an impressive network of healthcare professionals. Over 14,000 students earned healthcare degrees from WGU in 2019 alone, and are hard at work, changing the lives of patients and impacting communities.

See how we do it
A supported, personalized experience.

WGU is different from other online universities—in the best possible ways! Take a look at what we mean:

Faculty Learning Assessment Field Experience Alumni Support

Faculty

SUPPORTING YOU: Faculty focused on students.

An entire team of faculty members has one goal in mind: your success. Your Program Mentor is your individually assigned faculty member, providing regular program guidance and instruction from the day you start, to the day you graduate. In addition, Course Instructors provide regular, subject-matter instruction and support, typically one-on-one, throughout each course you take.

Learning

YOUR ROADMAP: A personalized learning plan.

Your program is made up of a series of courses, each a personalized journey toward subject mastery. A preassessment provides insight into what you already know. You’ll then learn what you still need to learn, using online learning resources—available 24/7—along with one-on-one or cohort-based faculty instruction.

Assessment

PROVE IT: Show you know your stuff.

WGU measures learning, not time, so each course in your program culminates in an assessment—a test, paper, project, or presentation that allows you to prove what you know. As soon as you’re ready, you take the assessment. Take proctored exams from the comfort of your own home—via webcam, any time of day!

Field Experience

REAL-WORLD: Time in the field.

Most of your program will be completed online but all nursing programs include some learning that occurs in a healthcare facility. Sometimes that will be where you work; other times, it will require placement in a facility near you. We will help you make all the arrangements.

Alumni Support

ALWAYS a Night Owl: WGU for life.

Continued support after you graduate includes many opportunities for professional development and enrichment, career support, and networking. WGU Night Owls may be independent learners, but they also become highly engaged in our active alumni community through apps, groups, and events.

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The accreditation you need, plus respect and recognition.

Healthcare and nursing employers want employees with the credentials that prove they can help improve patient care while streamlining facilities and strengthening their reputations. An important measure of a health degree’s value is whether it comes from an accredited university with programs that have been recognized for excellence by leading healthcare organizations.

Accredited

In addition to WGU's regional accreditation through the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, the bachelor’s and master’s nursing degree programs at WGU are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (655 K Street, NW, Suite 750, Washington, DC 20001, 202-887-6791).

Respected

“What we need are people who are truly versatile, able to learn efficiently and effectively. ... Those are the kind of people [who] represent graduates of Western Governors University.”
John Steele
Senior Vice President of Human Relations
HCA Healthcare

Recognized

Value is a combination of low cost and high quality. University Research & Review has named WGU a Best Value School several years running—a strong measure of return on investment!

Accredited

Respected

Recognized

Our programs check all the boxes. If this degree is your goal, get started toward becoming a student today—programs start the first of each month.

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When we say affordable, we mean it.

$4,240

Tuition per 6-month term

+

+$145

Flat fee for e-books and learning resources, saving you hundreds per term

=

=$4,385

TOTAL PER TERM

+$65

One-time application fee

Apply FREE this week

Tuition rate effective August 1, 2021. This program also requires a Health Professions Fee of $350.
Control the cost of your program: Our tuition links cost to time.

By charging per term rather than per credit—and empowering you to accelerate through material you know well or learn quickly—WGU helps you control the ultimate cost of your degree.
Flat-rate tuition of $4,385 per term links cost to time.

By charging per 6-month term rather than per credit hour—and empowering students to accelerate through material they know well or can learn quickly—WGU helps students control the ultimate cost of their degrees.

Adjust the time and see your costs change

Your time

2 yrs

Your cost

1 yr

1.5 yrs

2 yrs

2.5 yrs

3 yrs

1 yr

1.5 yrs

2 yrs

2.5 yrs

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There's help if you need it.

Financial aid is available.

WGU is approved for federal financial aid and U.S. veterans benefits.

View more about financial aid.

WGU students borrow less than half the national average.*

Our goal: You graduate with little or no debt.

The average student loan debt of WGU graduates in 2019 (among those who borrowed) was less than half the national average. WGU’s three-pronged approach to keeping your debt low and your return on investment quick: One, provide useful information and advice on responsible borrowing before enrollment. Two, keep tuition low while you're enrolled. And three, offer degree programs that lead to better-paying jobs after graduation.

Read about our Responsible Borrowing Initiative.

*WGU data: 2019 Annual Report. National data: The Institute for College Access & Success and Student Loan Hero.

Degree Cost Comparison

Online For-Profit University

Other Online Nonprofit University

WGU

Earn your MSN for about half what you’d pay elsewhere.

Low tuition and the ability to accelerate make WGU a more affordable option than most other schools. When you compare us with most any other university, WGU’s BSN-to-MSN – Nursing Informatics program offers rigorous curriculum with competitive post-graduation results for around half the cost—or even less—of similar nursing degree programs.

*WGU average annual bachelor’s tuition rates are 57% the national average, compared to national rates reported by IPEDS. WGU average rate does not include rates for WGU B.S. Nursing Prelicensure program. Learn more about WGU's tuition and how it compares.

Transparent fees and no hidden costs.

The cost of attending college often includes much more than tuition and fees. WGU is designed to be different, and that translates to cost savings everywhere from books to babysitting.

Other universities bury you in unexpected costs. Not WGU.

Click to explore the extra costs:

Tuition Books

Parking Gas

Library / resource fees Babysitter every week for
nighttime classes

WGU

Other online college

Traditional
4 year school

This demonstration shows how various costs—including official fees and incidental costs of attending school—can add up in different learning environments. It's meant as an illustration only.

Scholarships make our already low tuition even more affordable.

Many scholarship opportunities are available. Here are just a few you may be eligible to apply for:

$2,500

Master Your Future Scholarship

$2,500

Back to School Scholarship

$2,000

Alumni Master's Scholarship

The affordable, flexible programs offered at WGU put high-quality education within your reach. Start working toward your future.

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MSN curriculum that ensures you’ve mastered the skills employers expect from informatics nurses.

Program consists of:
14 Courses
An unofficial estimated 0 courses are fulfilled by your associate degree leaving 14 courses.
I have an associate degree Download Program Guide

At WGU, we design our online nursing programs to be timely, relevant, and practical—all to ensure your degree is proof you really know your stuff.

Every course in your master's program focuses on a set of clearly defined competencies that you must prove you’ve learned—through tests, papers, projects, or other assessments. Demonstrating mastery is how you pass a course, so learning what it takes to be outstanding in your career is at the heart of WGU’s MSN – Nursing Informatics (BSN to MSN) curriculum. In fact, it's at the heart of our philosophy as a university!

That means what you learn is often directly applicable the next day at work—and it means what you’re doing at work frequently informs the work you’re doing in your courses. It’s all about real-world applicability so every moment spent studying is time well spent.

Courses in this program.

This program consists of the following courses, which you will typically complete one at a time as you make your way through your program, working with your Program Mentor each term to build your personalized Degree Plan. You’ll work through each course as quickly as you can study and learn the material. As soon as you’re ready, you’ll pass the assessment, complete the course, and move on. This means you can finish as many courses as you're able in a term at no additional cost.

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Nursing Informatics Specialty

Foundations in Nursing Informatics

This course addresses the integration of technology to improve and support nursing practice. It provides nurses with a foundational understanding of nursing informatics theory, practice, and applications. Topics include the role of nursing in informatics; use of computer technology for clinical documentation, communication, and workflows; problem identification; project implementation; and best practices.

Informatics System Analysis and Design

In Informatics System Analysis and Design, a broad understanding of data systems is covered to build upon the Foundations in Nursing Informatics course. The importance of effective interoperability, functionality, data access, and user satisfaction are addressed. The student will be analyzing reports and integrating federal regulations, research principles, and principles of environmental health in the construction of a real-world systems analysis and design project. This course will be directly applicable to healthcare settings as electronic records management has become compulsory for healthcare providers. All of the information in this course will be directly tied to the delivery of quality patient care and patient safety. Foundations in Nursing Informatics is recommended as a prerequisite.

Data Science and Analytics

This course addresses the interdisciplinary and emerging field of data science in healthcare. Candidates learn to combine tools and techniques from statistics, computer science, data visualization, and the social sciences to solve problems using data. Topics include data analysis; database management; inferential and descriptive statistics; statistical inference; and process improvement.

Data Modeling and Database Management Systems

This graduate course is designed to engage the student in planning, analyzing, and designing a relational database management system (DBMS) for use by nurse administrators, clinicians, educators, and informaticists. This experience will provide the knowledge needed to advocate for nursing informatics needs within the field of healthcare.

Nursing Informatics Field Experience

Nursing Informatics Field Experience requires students to complete clinical/practice experiences while engaging in authentic activities relevant to the role of an informatics nurse. To help students develop competency in this area, this course gives students opportunities to apply methods and solutions to support clinical decisions. They will be prepared to improve health outcomes by analyzing an existing health information system to determine the need for a system optimization that will improve an organization’s ability to measure and report Triple Aim objectives. All MSN Core and Specialty courses, with the exclusion of the Capstone course, are prerequisites to this course and must be completed before taking this course.

Nursing Informatics Capstone

Nursing Informatics Capstone requires students to complete clinical/practice experiences (CPE) and finalize their system optimization proposal paper, which addresses the Institute of Health’s Triple Aim initiative. During this course, students will plan the final phase of their system development life cycle (SDLC), which consists of proposing the processes, methods, and tasks for monitoring, maintaining, supporting, and evaluating their system optimization. The knowledge and skills that students acquire during the CPE in this course will prepare them to complete their system optimization proposal paper. This is a culminating course that provides students an opportunity to demonstrate the competencies acquired during this program. All MSN Core and Specialty courses, including the Field Experience course, are prerequisites to this course and must be completed before taking this course.

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MSN Core

Professional Presence and Influence

Professional Presence and Influence is a masters-level course designed to guide students towards an enhanced state of presence, where therapeutic relationships are built between nurse and patient. Students will learn techniques for self-care practices that result in enhanced mental and physical wellbeing and that ensure ethically-generated patient care. Presence is an intrapersonal and interpersonal quality that allows the nurse to relate to others and to be aware of the world around them. The characteristics of presence, which include holism, intimacy, sensitivity and adaptability, create a heightened sense of awareness that fosters therapeutic relationships between the nurse and patient. Developing a mindful, authentic presence is central to health and spiritual practices in several cultures and a major element of leadership. Students will intentionally develop a focused mindfulness practice that will influence patient outcomes and lead to conditions that create joy in the workplace.

Essentials of Advanced Nursing Roles and Interprofessional Practice

Essentials of Advanced Nursing Roles and Interprofessional Practice explores essential characteristics of the advanced professional nurse in the role of leader, educator, practitioner, or informatics specialist. In this course, students will apply evidence-based strategies to facilitate interprofessional collaboration on teams. Students will explore the role of nurses in advocating for change at the bedside, as well as leading teams to advocate for health policy reform. Students will gather and analyze data to identify patients and populations at risk and recommend policy change to improve health outcomes in the community.

Quality Outcomes in a Culture of Value-Based Nursing Care

Quality Outcomes in a Culture of Value-Based Nursing Care incorporates current standards of quality and safety within the context of value-based care. In a value-based healthcare system, the benefits are derived from measuring health outcomes against the cost of delivering the outcomes. These benefits are then extended to patients, providers, payers, suppliers, and society as a whole. This course introduces new healthcare delivery models, which stress a team-oriented approach to patient care and sharing of patient data so that care is coordinated, and outcomes can be measured easily. Emphasis is placed on performance and quality improvement methods that underlie value-based nursing care. The nurse in advanced practice today must exemplify the standards of quality and safety and be prepared to lead the delivery of value-based patient-centered care.

Advanced Pathopharmacological Foundations

Advanced Pathopharmacological Foundations provides advanced practice nurses foundational knowledge in the many pathologies encountered in practice today. Advancing from the cellular to the body system level, this course examines the pathologies of common conditions seen in healthcare today. Consideration is also given to the human affective response to alterations in health. There are no prerequisites for this course.

Advanced Health Assessment for Patients and Populations

Advanced Health Assessment of Patients and Populations builds on prior physical health assessment knowledge and skills acquired during undergraduate studies by focusing on the advanced assessment of biopsychosocial and sociocultural contexts in patients and populations across the life span. This course emphasizes the use of a comprehensive health promotion, disease prevention, and health restoration model to address health concerns in patients and communities. Students will acquire advanced assessment knowledge and skills for clinical interviewing, focused history taking, critical diagnostic reasoning, and clinical decision-making using a problem-focused framework that integrates authentic experiences with practical knowledge of health patterns in patients and communities.

Informatics for Transforming Nursing Care

Informatics for Transforming Nursing Care integrates nursing science with multiple information and analytical sciences to identify, define, manage, and communicate data, information, knowledge, and wisdom in nursing practice. Students will acquire knowledge and skills to apply informatics concepts, communications, and data that are critical to facilitating interprofessional data-driven decision-making. It is designed to build competence in the use of patient- and population-based applications that inform and support the transformation of nursing care delivery toward a future of value-based quality nursing care that improves health outcomes. This course aligns theoretical concepts with practical applications of informatics and is consistent with the functional areas and responsibilities of informatics nurses as defined by American Nurses Association Scope and Standards for nursing informatics.

Leadership and Management in Complex Healthcare Systems

Leadership and Management in Complex Healthcare Systems prepares graduate nurses to be thoughtful strategists and informed decision makers who serve as strong leaders in high performing healthcare systems. Students develop competencies for managing diverse teams in complex systems, monitoring and measuring organizational performance, allocating financial and human resources, and leading change towards a transformed healthcare system. Additionally, students acquire the knowledge and skills to become full partners with other healthcare professionals by demonstrating nurse contributions toward high-quality care to patients and populations, while working collaboratively with interprofessional teams.

Advancing Evidence-Based Innovation in Nursing Practice

Advancing Evidence-Based Innovation in Nursing Practice introduces students to the dynamic union of healthcare innovation and evidence. Core competencies and behaviors required to be a nurse innovator are discussed. Strategies for measuring innovation at various system levels are presented, as well as techniques for synthesizing and disseminating evidence to advance innovation in healthcare. The skills needed to appraise the quality of diverse sources of evidence are presented within the framework of evidence-based practice. This course focuses on identifying new and emerging sources of evidence that can inform, translate, and scale the complexity of leading innovation in healthcare organizations. Students will experience building communities of practice for collaboratively developing innovative practices and policies designed to improve the health of populations and enhance the patient experience of care.

Plan to work hard: Master's in nursing informatics program requirements and expectations

The MSN – Nursing Informatics (BSN to MSN) program is a mostly online nursing program that you will complete by studying and working independently with support and instruction from WGU faculty. You will be expected to complete at least 8 competency units (WGU's equivalent of the credit hour) each 6-month term. (Each course is typically 3 or 4 units.)

The first person you speak with at WGU will be your Enrollment Counselor, who can explain requirements and expectations in more detail. You can also read more about each course in the Program Guide.

Request info from an Enrollment Counselor.
Download the Program Guide.

Special requirements for our master's in nursing programs for RNs with their BSN:

While most of your coursework will be completed online, your nursing master's degree program includes some requirements—including field experiences—that must be completed in a facility near you, which the university will help you find.

We offer degrees for in-demand careers that provide the knowledge and skills you need to succeed. Give your résumé the boost it needs!

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Quality you can trust: Curriculum developed with guidance from healthcare employers and experts.

Program councils—teams of industry and academic experts—drive the development of our programs, providing input on the competencies a successful graduate needs to have mastered.
A different kind of university: Our MSN program is built for a busy nurse’s schedule.

Think you can't fit school into your life? Competency-based education puts working nurses in the driver’s seat of their education. As a busy registered nurse (RN), you need a nursing degree program that's more than simply online—you need a program that truly reflects the realities of your work life and experience. At WGU, your progress is driven by your ability to prove what you’ve learned. How—and how quickly—are largely up to you. Once you’ve mastered the defined competencies (knowledge and skills), you prove what you know through tests, papers, projects, or other assessments. Demonstrating mastery is how you pass a course, so learning what it takes to be outstanding in your career is at the heart of WGU’s MSN – Nursing Informatics curriculum. Other universities' online M.S. programs may give you the convenience of distance learning; WGU's competency-based online programs take that flexibility further—many steps further!

“I learned a lot about doing research, which has helped me tremendously in my new position. You learn so much with this degree.” Jennifer Granger Brown
M.S. Nursing

Designed for working nurses.

Day shift, night shift, or on-call; flu season or the onslaught of summertime injuries; 5-minute coffee breaks where you’re still on your feet… A nurse’s schedule is never predictable—and not very forgiving. That’s why our programs focus on making the best use of your time and experience and why we maximize the real-world impact of what you’re learning—so your years as a nurse can help you graduate faster, and the hours of study time you squeeze in actually pay off at work.

Competency-Based Education (CBE)

How it helps you

Efficient

Save time and money by focusing efforts where they matter the most.

No two students are alike—especially working adult students with nursing experience. Students enroll in a university knowing different things, they learn at different speeds, and they have different amounts of time to spend studying. Competency-based education lets you prioritize where to spend your valuable time.

Flexible

Learn on your own terms.

Nurses' schedules are unpredictable. Whatever your week looks like, competency-based learning allows you to study and complete competencies when it fits your life—even if that means taking a proctored test online at 3 a.m. While you will be required to maintain a base level of consistent progress through your program, WGU is designed to empower you to maximize your personal schedule by allowing you to build a study plan that fits into your life—not one that requires you to rearrange it.

Results

Know you’re learning real-world skills.

You earn a nursing degree for results—not simply to accrue credits. Competency-based education centers on competencies—the clearly defined knowledge and skills that leading healthcare employers are looking for. How do we know what they’re looking for? They tell us—and their input drives our curriculum.

Finish courses by proving what you know, when you’re ready.

With competency-based education at WGU, success is measured by actual learning, not class time. You advance by demonstrating that you've mastered the course subject matter—whether you learned it through your study at WGU or picked up that knowledge through years of work experience.

Your progress through a course is driven by you.

How quickly you learn

+

The time you devote to studying

+

How much previous knowledge you bring

Your experience pays at WGU.

Why start from square one when you could already be well on your way to a degree?

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A master’s degree in nurse informatics prepares you to drive decisions grounded in sound data.

Once you have completed your M.S. in Nursing – Nursing Informatics degree online, you will have the knowledge and skills it takes to be an outstanding informatics nurse.

And as an informatics nurse, you’ll play a crucial role in elevating the level of care in your facility and in today’s healthcare industry. You’ll empower your colleagues to make decisions, implement policies, and perfect practices that are proven to improve the health and well-being of individuals and communities.

The number of jobs for medical and health service managers is expected to grow by 32% from 2019 to 2029.
—U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Nursing informatics: a fulfilling career that’s in high demand.

First things first: What is nursing informatics? Simply put, it’s the juncture of information technology, medical practice, and medical research. It uses data, statistics, and research to make smart decisions that improve healthcare. In a survey of 576 healthcare professionals, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society found that respondents overwhelmingly felt informatics nurses had a significant impact on the quality of care patients receive, especially on implementation, optimization, workflow, and patient safety.
Top Jobs

Chief nursing informatics officer

Informatics director

Nursing informatics specialist

Informatics analyst
Diverse Industries

Hospitals and healthcare clinics

Health systems

Healthcare vendors

Colleges and universities, schools

Insurance companies

Long-term care facilities

Local, state, or federal government
Major Employers

Healthcare Corp. of America

Kaiser Permanente

Anthem

Cigna

UCLA

Atrium Health
Explore a career in nursing informatics.

Get info about an informatics nurse's salary, job outlook, work environment, and more.

More career info
WGU is a university committed to producing successful grads.

The ultimate test of your degree's value is whether it helps you become an outstanding employee and advance your career. Our happy grads—and their happy employers—confirm that WGU is the path to that kind of degree.
Happy employers

Happy grads

They're Prepared.

Employers said that WGU graduates were prepared for their jobs.

They Perform.

Employers rated WGU graduates' job performance as very good or excellent.

They Wow.

Employers said their WGU graduates have exceeded their expectations.

They're Confident.

Graduates said the majority of their coursework was related to their jobs.

They're Working.

Graduates are working full-time.

They're Satisfied.

Graduates said their degrees were worth the cost of their education.

Source: 2018 Harris Poll survey of 300 employers; 2018 Harris Poll Online survey of 1,374 new college graduates nationwide compared with survey of 1,147 WGU graduates; Gallup-Purdue Index 2018
“Our partnership with WGU enables our employees to advance their education affordably without interrupting their careers.” John Steele, Senior Vice President of Human Resources,
HCA Healthcare

Close the gap between you and your dreams.

Online degree programs start every month.

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Your master's degree is attainable—start the path from BSN to MSN by enrolling today.

Next Possible Start

Start dates are the 1st of every month. Meet requirements by the 15th to start next month. Discuss steps and deadlines with your Enrollment Counselor.
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Get your Enrollment Checklist

Download your step-by-step guide to enrollment.
View checklist

Get your questions answered and take the next step: Talk to an Enrollment Counselor.

866-225-5948
Request info
WGU accepts transfer credits. And, there's no work requirement.
Now's the time to advance your healthcare career with a master's degree:

Transfer up to 17 competency units (47%) of your MSN courses taken at the graduate (master's) level at an accredited institution to this WGU degree program. Courses must have been completed at an accredited MSN program within the past five years with an earned grade of "B" or higher.

There is no RN work requirement. This means you don't need to be currently working as an RN in order to be eligible for admission into our MSN programs.

For more information, please read the transfer guidelines for this program.

Your Enrollment Counselor is there to help you make an informed decision.

The first step toward change can be the hardest—we get it. Your "welcoming committee" at WGU is made up of Enrollment Counselors, Admissions Specialists, and faculty members. Your initial interactions at WGU will be guided by an Enrollment Counselor who specializes in the programs you're interested in.

Your Enrollment Counselor is ready with as much help as you may need:

Get your cost and admissions criteria questions answered.

Assess WGU's fit with your career goals.

Get started toward enrollment!

Contact an Enrollment Counselor.
Admission requirements unique to this degree.
To be considered for a WGU BSN-to-MSN program, you must:

Possess a bachelor of science in nursing degree (BSN).

Possess an active, unencumbered RN license (though you are not required to be working as an RN at the time of enrollment):

1. In your state of residence, or
2. In your state of employment.

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Making an informed admission decision.

WGU seeks to admit individuals who have the capacity and determination to complete a rigorous WGU degree program … and graduate. The admission process is designed to help you and the university reach an informed decision about your likelihood of success.

At WGU we want you to graduate, not just enroll. Consequently, not every applicant is admitted because not every individual has the capacity and determination to complete a rigorous WGU degree program.
What can I do with a nursing informatics degree?

With a nursing informatics degree, you are qualified to work with information in the field of nursing. You may be involved in running, or even testing and creating solutions for information and communication. With a master’s degree in nursing informatics, you may be qualified to work as a chief nursing informatics officer, or as an informatics director.

Why is nursing informatics important?

Data is critical to organizational and patient success. Nursing informaticists develop and improve technologies to make it easier to store and access some of the most important data in healthcare, particularly electronic health records. Managing and storing these records correctly improves patient outcomes by reducing errors, limiting delays, and keeping costs low through paperless record storage and retrieval.

How do I become a nurse informatics specialist?

In order to have a career in nursing informatics, you’ll need to begin by becoming a registered nurse and earning a BSN. There may be additional certifications you need to get started in the field. Most positions will require a master’s degree (MSN) in nursing informatics to help you move forward in your career.

How long is a nursing informatics program?

A traditional nursing informatics master’s program takes two years after you earn your BSN, which will take four years in a traditional program. However, there may be online programs like the nursing informatics degree at WGU that allow you to accelerate your education and graduate faster.

What is a degree in nursing informatics?

A degree in nursing informatics combines nursing science skills with information technology and computer science. With a degree in nursing informatics, you’ll learn the skills and have the training to manage critical patient data in an electronic format. Working in the nursing informatics field, you will improve access to patient information while keeping it secure, all with the aim to improve patient care.

Is nursing informatics in demand?

As information becomes increasingly digital, nursing informaticists are in high demand. Healthcare and nursing as a whole are growing fields. In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of jobs for medical and health service managers is expected to grow by an astonishing 32% from 2019 to 2029.
What can you do with a master’s in nursing informatics?

With a master’s degree in nursing informatics, you may be qualified for the following jobs:

Chief nursing informatics officer

Informatics director

Nursing informatics specialist

Informatics analyst
How much does a nurse informaticist make?

While salaries vary, as a nurse informaticist the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that you’ll make an average of over $60,000 per year. Salaries for those with a master’s degree in the field who pursue careers in management positions may earn a higher salary.

Is nursing informatics a good field?

Yes. Nursing informatics is a great field where jobs are in high demand. Nurse informaticists have a high impact on the quality of care a patient receives and are crucial for improved data security in healthcare settings. This is a highly rewarding field, and can be a great place to make a difference.
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