Healthcare Technology Featured Article

March 03, 2014

Informatics Specialty Continues Rapid Growth for Nursing Professionals


Nursing informatics—a profession that integrates nursing science, computer science and information science—has seen significant growth in the healthcare industry, partially due to increasing salaries, according to a recent survey.

The expansion of technology in healthcare has created an increased need for specialists in nursing informatics as providers integrate more information systems and applications to cope with regulations regarding clinical documentation, computerized practitioner order entry (CPOE) and electronic medical/health records.

“The industry demands for more robust clinical documentation and analytics—such as those associated with Meaningful Use—have increased the need for informaticists across the entire care spectrum,” said Joyce Sensmeier, vice president of informatics for Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), which sponsored the study. “This year’s survey showed a marked growth across the field of nursing informatics, as well as a deeper understanding and recognition of informatics as a nursing specialty.”

The recently released 2014 HIMSS Nursing Informatics Workforce Survey—which builds on previous HIMSS research from 2004, 2007 and 2011—examines the roles, responsibilities and outlook for nursing informatics professionals. The survey was designed to measure current professional status and practice trends, while identifying changes that have occurred over the last nine years in the nursing informatics workforce.

The survey found more 70 percent of the 1,000 respondents have titles that specified an informatics position, which is double the amount from the last HIMSS Nursing Workforce Survey conducted in 2011. That indicates the growing emphasis on nursing informatics in field as well as the increased interest in training for the specialty.

“Nearly two thirds of respondents have a post-graduate degree and 28 percent have a Master’s degree or PhD in informatics, which points to the fact that the field is rapidly maturing,” Sensmeier said. “System optimization/utilization was a new option in the 2014 Survey and selected by 39 percent of respondents, suggesting that we may be moving beyond simply implementing systems towards leveraging their value.”

The survey also found salaries are continuing to increase for nursing informatics professionals, which also plays a role in the growing interest in the field. The average salary in 2014 was $100,717; up from $98,703 in 2011 and $83,675 in 2007. 




Edited by Cassandra Tucker
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