Education

Right now, I'm contemplating several online master's degree programs, particularly an informatics degree. It can be a chore, since there are lots and lots of programs out there right now, called health care informatics, nursing informatics and medical informatics.

If you're a nurse and want to be board certified in informatics by the ANCC, you need the following:

• Hold a current, active RN license within a state or territory of the United States or the professional, legally recognized equivalent in another country
• Have practiced the equivalent of two years full time as a registered nurse
• Hold a baccalaureate or higher degree in nursing or a baccalaureate degree in a relevant field
• Have completed 30 hours of continuing education in informatics within the last three years and meet one of the following practice requirements:
• Have a practiced minimum of 2,000 hours in informatics nursing within the last three years
• Have practiced a minimum of 1,000 hours in informatics nursing in the last three years and completed a minimum of 12 semester hours of academic credit in informatics courses which are a part of a graduate level informatics nursing program
• Have completed a graduate program in nursing informatics containing a minimum of 200 hours of faculty supervised practicum in informatics

For more information on education in nursing informatics, check out ANIA's Education page (American Nursing Informatics Association).

Change of Shift is up...

And yours truly is listed for the first time!

If you've never been to Change of Shift, head on over to www.emergiblog.com for the whole story. Change of Shift is predominantly nurse bloggers blogging about nursing or nursing-related topics. It's a must read for any nurse. Check it out!

Technology in the news

Hospitals and Health Networks magazine has an article about the implementation of IT on nursing in a rural hospital setting. Another article, also in this same magazine discusses wireless technology.

Since I carry a PalmPilot wherever I go, I'd be happy if there were more publicly accessible wireless access points in hospitals. It's very handy especially if your cell phone doesn't work well in the hospital.

The latest news on IT for nurses

I've been busy myself learning the ins and outs of the VistA computer system for nurses. Here are some of the latest stories I've found about IT and nurses.

More nurses embrace IT (from nursezone.com)

CIN Computers, Informatics and Nursing - abstracts and links to articles available free at www.medscape.com

Nurses prefer contact to computers (from whatifpost.com)

An oldie but goodie that warrants a second look:
The potential use of blogs in nursing education (also from CIN)

Day one

Welcome to IT RN. The intent of this blog is to find the best articles and links to technology resources of interest to practicing nurses.

I'm not affiliated with any technology companies, so I hope to just throw you the links to interesting sites and articles and let you decide for yourselves what you like and what you don't like.

Any opinions expressed in this blog are my two cents and do not imply any warranty or guarantee. Consequently, if you landed here for health care advice, I suggest you contact your friendly, neighborhood health care provider for information tailored specifically to your needs, since this blog is about technology in the health care setting.

Technology is ever expanding and its role in nursing is, too. I hope this blog can provide additional information on how it can and will make a difference in your nursing practice.

Thanks for visiting and let's get it! IT RN is technology for nurses.