Nursing informatics and the Nurse entrepreneur
The daily activities of nurse informaticists differ
Nursing informatics is a challenging and exciting
specialty combining your love of and experience in
nursing with your aptitude for technology. IT
applications in health care settings are growing by
the day, and so is the demand for nurses to work in
this field. In a recent survey, the Healthcare
Information and Management Systems Society
(HIMSS) found that 95% of the respondents “view
health IT as a strategically critical tool to help
healthcare organizations be successful.
Nursing informatics is the intersection between
nursing care, technology, health information
systems, and the data used in health care settings.
The nurse informaticist is a qualified nurse,
with nursing experience – which gives her the
background of the procedures, processes, and
challenges of everyday nursing and patient care –
together with advanced knowledge of technology
and information systems. Nurse informaticists work
in many different settings and under various titles
including nursing informatics clinician, clinical
informatics coordinator and IT clinical nurse.
Although you may not have heard of it before the
specialty of Nurse Informaticist was recognized by
the American Nurses Association as early as 1992,
which was also the year in which certification was
introduced. This organization published the first
Scope and Standards of Nursing Informatics
Practice in 1994, and the fourth, updated version
appeared in 2015. The first graduate program in
nursing informatics in the US was established at the
University of Maryland in 1988 and soon followed
by the University of Utah.
Informatics nurses established an organization
called CARING in 1982 to provide a forum to
advance automated information systems in health
care. The American Nursing Informatics
Association (ANIA) was formed in 1992 to provide
resources, education, and networking for nurses
working in informatics. These two organizations
merged in 2010 as ANIA-CARING but in 2012 the
name American Nursing Informatics Association
with the tagline “where caring and technology meet”
was adopted – maintaining the history of both
organizations. Today the ANIA has a membership
of around 3,200, including nurses as well as other
professionals interested in nursing informatics.
What are the Responsibilities and Duties of a
Nurse Informaticist?
depending on the setting in which they are
employed. All, however, have some role in
connecting nursing and patient care with those
responsible for supplying and developing
technological applications based on their job
description. This could include the selection of
hardware and software, making sure that the nurses
on the floor know how to use the systems, and also
providing ongoing support. The nurse informaticist
is also involved in problem-solving and developing
new and more efficient systems – all with the aim
of improving the quality of patient care.
The nurse informaticist acts as a go-between in
identifying, developing and introducing informatics
tools and processes that support the nursing
process within a particular health care setting. “I
act as a liaison between the technical and clinical
communities. When a client wants a specific
functionality or workflow, I can take it and go to
the application builders and speak their language to
explain what the clinical folks are looking for. If
technical people have issues, I can go back to the
clinical folks and try to find the resolution that will
technically work,” explained Gina wade
The liaison role is ongoing and applies whether a
new system is introduced or systems are adapted
and improved. The nurse informaticist often
identifies the need for the latter through her
observations and interactions within the health care
setting as well as analysis of the data provided by
the electronic information systems. The data can,
for example, show up trends and frequently
occurring errors.
Thus research and development is another critical
function of nurse informaticists – identifying where
IT can contribute even further to better patient care
and improved outcomes. They could, for example,
identify common factors in patients who are later
readmitted. “We’ll take those variables and identify
how and wherein the system we should alert a nurse
that this is a possible red flag and give her the
elements of a plan to decrease the risk for a readmit,”
Wade clarified. In another example, new software
is being developed where patient acuity, established
from nursing documentation, could determine the
staffing needs of each unit on a specific day.
Most nurse informaticists are also involved in
teaching nurses and other personnel on how to use
specific information systems and providing ongoing
support – answering their questions and solving
problems that arise. To a large extent, the
acceptance and integration of the technology into
the daily workflow depends on them, so the ability
to communicate well and manage change is
essential.
Informatics nurses also have to work closely with
management concerning informatics policy
development and implementation, as well as
ensuring that regulatory, patient safety and
confidentiality, and quality improvement
requirements are met
Where do Nurse Informaticists Work?
Most nurse informaticists are employed at hospitals,
although the number employed in other health care
facilities, such as clinics, is increasing. Some highly
qualified nurse informaticists advance to leadership
positions such as serving as the clinical IT leader in
large hospital groups under the title of Chief
Nursing
Informatics Officer.
Other informatics nurses work in higher paying jobs
at IT consulting firms or for vendors who supply
services to the health care industry. These nurses
are often offered jobs after having been identified in
a health care setting by the company concerned.
Increasingly, leading nurse informaticists are also
working for policy and standards organizations. An
example is Judy Murphy who was appointed as
Deputy National Coordinator for Programs &
Policy at the Office of the National Coordinator for
Health IT at Health and Human Services in
Washington, DC.
What are the qualifications of a nurse
informaticist?
Besides an excellent clinical nursing background,
one quality which you need to work in this field is a
strong technological aptitude – although not
necessarily technical expertise, which is usually
acquired on the job. Other essential qualities are
problem-solving and analytical thinking abilities, a
questioning mind, excellent communication skills,
as well as being able to organize and manage.
The ANA distinguishes between an informatics
nurse specialist, who is a registered nurse with a
formal graduate qualification in informatics or a
related field, and an informatics nurse, who has
experience in informatics but without graduate
education in the subject. Both can, however, apply
for formal certification.
As with all nursing specialties, board certification
provides recognition of your skills and may be
required by some employers. Certification for
nursing informatics is provided by the American
Nurses Credentialing Centre (ANCC) and is also
open to international applicants. To apply, you need
a bachelor’s degree, two years of experience as a
registered nurse and proof of continuing education
in informatics and some practice experience in
nursing informatics. You could also apply for
certification by the as either an associate or
professional in healthcare information and
management systems.
What is the Salary Range for Nurse
Informaticists?
Specific data on the salaries of nurse informaticists
is not available, but according to a 2018 survey by
the HIMSS, the average salary of digital health
professionals involved in direct management,
development or support of IT is $109,610 per year.
Consider also that nursing roles in all healthcare
settings are continually expanding and that the job
of software developer made the first place in this
year’s “Best 100 jobs in America.”
What are the Pros and Cons of Nursing
Informatics?
The only drawback reported by nurses in this field
is that they are no longer involved in direct patient
care – missing the interaction with patients and
fearing that they would lose their clinical skills and
judgment. Some select to work weekends or other
shifts on a part-time basis but this can be very
demanding. “I have developed other ways to stay
connected with the clinical environment. I maintain
that staying connected to clinical practice is
extremely important for the healthcare informatics
professional,” explained informatics nurse Mark
Sugrue.
Another challenge in this area of work is adjusting
from being a direct caregiver to stepping back and
becoming an observer. Overall, however, there is a
good balance between working on your own and
working and communicating within the health care
setting.

Younger nurses often do well in this field because

they grew up with and have a passion for
technology. Nurses in the area warn that this is not
a job for those who go there believing it will be less
stressful than working on the floor. “What I found
is that the people who have tried to do that […] they
often hate every moment of it. It’s some pretty
intense work. I probably did some of my most
robust critical thinking in
informatics,” said Brittney Wilson, who also
wrote The Nerdy Nurse’s Guide to Technology.

Nursing Informatics Organizations

Helpful nursing organizations you must know if
you want to become a nurse informaticist:

 The American Nursing Informatics

Association (ANIA). An organization for both
nurses and allied personnel committed to
nursing informatics. The organization aims to
advance the field through education, research,
and practice. ANIA has branches, holds regular
conferences, and publishes the
quarterly Journal of Informatics Nursing.
 The Alliance for Nursing
Informatics (ANI). This is a collaboration of
organizations, bringing together various groups
that function in nursing informatics. They
provide a unified voice to advance nursing
informatics in improving the delivery of patient
care.
 American Nurses Credentialing Centre
(ANCC). Functioning under the ANA, the
ANCC offers board certification in Nursing
Informatics at a basic level of knowledge and
skill.
 Healthcare Information and Management
Systems Society (HIMSS). The HIMSS is a
global organization focused on “better health
through information and technology.” It
provides a variety of professional development
resources for persons working in this area.
Many nurse informaticists are members of this
organization through which they can also
obtain certification in healthcare information
and management systems.