My Journey from Nursing to Informatics: What I Learned
I went to nursing school to take care of mothers and babies; health IT was not yet on my radar screen. Having been inspired by my own birth experiences, I wished to support and advocate for other childbearing women.
When it came time to go to graduate school, nursing informatics was an option about which I’d read and, because I already appreciated that technology was becoming more prevalent in my daily life, it made sense that technology would at some point change healthcare. I wanted to learn more and to be part of this change.
After graduate school, I combined the knowledge I learned about systems, process and workflows, and the importance of data, with clinical certification and became a women’s services clinical specialist. Nursing informatics certification followed and I represented women’s health nursing at health IT venues as well as through my specialty nursing organization. On the clinical practice side, I was able to articulate the informatics perspective as part of the corporate leadership team, influencing health IT solutions.
During this time, colleagues inspired me in two ways: first by encouraging me to pursue a PhD and the second to continue to work on and advocate for health IT’s value as a vehicle to visualize and empower nursing practice.
I also began to realize that I have an opportunity to inspire others to advocate for health IT that works with us rather than against us.
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