Happy National Nurses Week! At Writing the Future of Health we are certainly celebrating, and thought we would kick things off by having some fun with blog posts. The most frequently asked about topic is what it is like to make the transition from bedside nursing to Nursing Informatics. Well, today I will tell you…in gifs!

Hope you enjoy! And if you have also made a career transition and have some experiences to share, let me know in the comments below.

The Commute…

I began my nursing career like so many new graduates on the night shift. This made for very odd commuting hours. In the winter I left home after the sun set, and finished my shift before the sun rose. On the positive side, in the New York City area I avoided all of the congestion of regular commuting hours. The bad part is I also run into a lot of…interesting characters.

As an Informatics Nurse, my commute is to my laptop. Working the same hours as most other people certainly makes it easier to plan social events. Now the most interest character in my commute is my dog.

New Terms to Learn…

In nursing school, I had a dedicated study group that helped me get through microbiology, anatomy and physiology, pharmacology, and all of the other ‘-ologies’ we had to take. We used to quiz each other on terms because there were so many to learn.

Transitioning into Nursing Informatics came with an entirely new set of terms to learn. It felt overwhelming at first, but it was not as hard as nursing school. For one thing, computers were created by people, so there is logic to how systems are structured that is easy to understand. Memorizing all of the bones in the hand was much more challenging than learning to write end user requirements.

The Frustrating Moments…

If anyone knows of a job that comes with no frustrations, please email me. From my experience, there are frustrations to every role. As a bedside nurse, the most frustrating moments for me were when the day shift nurse left me a long ‘to do’ list because they figured, ‘Nothing happens on the night shift, she should have plenty of time.’

In Nursing Informatics, the frustrations are different. You end up working with a lot of other healthcare workers at all levels of the organization. This can be great because you see the bigger picture and what the organization needs. But that also means you can have a lot of stakeholders to manage. The most frustrating moments for me have been when a key stakeholder seems to use the blinky thing from Men in Black to erase their memory before a meeting. Then they act like they have never seen the system before and want to re-do everything.

The Redeeming Moments…

On the positive side, for every frustrating moment there are at least some redeeming moments. As a bedside nurse, my favorite moments were when I knew I helped a person and their family. Particularly as a home hospice nurse, I got to know everyone in a household. Caring for them through those challenging moments was the best part of the job.

As an Informatics Nurse, the people I help are other nurses. It feels rewarding to know I created something to (hopefully) make the job easier. Being able to bring my perspective as a nurse who has been overwhelmed with a million things to do, I understand why it is important to streamline and make systems simpler.

Key Takeaways

Going from bedside to Informatics was a career transition I am glad I made. Both bedside nursing and Nursing Informatics come with the opportunity to help others. If you are interested in learning more about how I made that transition in words (instead of gifs), you can check out this article.

If you are thinking about making this transition yourself and would like some guidance to get started, check out: From Bedside Nurse to Informatics Nurse: A How-To Guide.