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Clinical informatics specialist education requirements
Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read
There are several educational requirements to become a clinical informatics specialist. Clinical informatics specialists usually study nursing, business, or health care administration. 47% of clinical informatics specialists hold a bachelor's degree, and 23% hold an associate degree. We analyzed 423 real clinical informatics specialist resumes to see exactly what clinical informatics specialist education sections show.
The most common colleges for clinical informatics specialists are the University of Phoenix and the University of Phoenix.
There are also many online clinical informatics specialist courses to help get the education required to be a clinical informatics specialist.
There are certain clinical informatics specialist certifications that you should consider. These clinical informatics specialist certifications include Informatics Nursing (RN-BC) and Certification in Clinical Informatics Subspecialty.
What education do you need to become a clinical informatics specialist?
What degree do you need to be a clinical informatics specialist?
- Bachelor's, 47%
- Associate, 23%
- Master's, 22%
- Doctorate, 4%
- Other Degrees, 4%
What should I major in to become a clinical informatics specialist?
- Nursing, 57%
- Business, 7%
- Management, 3%
- Other Majors, 29%
Most common colleges for clinical informatics specialists
| Clinical informatics specialist common college | Percentages |
|---|---|
| University of Phoenix | 13.70% |
| Walden University | 10.96% |
| Temple University | 6.85% |
| University of Wisconsin Colleges | 5.48% |
| Pennsylvania State University | 5.48% |
Best majors for clinical informatics specialists
| Rank | Major | Percentages |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nursing | 57.0% |
| 2 | Business | 6.7% |
| 3 | Health Care Administration | 3.5% |
| 4 | Management | 3.2% |
| 5 | Pharmacy | 3.2% |
Best colleges for clinical informatics specialists
The best colleges for clinical informatics specialists are University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, and Northwestern University.
A clinical informatics specialist with advanced education typically earns a higher salary and has access to better jobs. That's why Zippia looked into the best colleges for clinical informatics specialists. We based this list on several metrics: admissions rate, retention rate, mean earnings of graduates, the ratio of working vs. non-working students ten years after admission, the average cost of attendance, and median debt for graduates who become clinical informatics specialists.
1. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
In-state tuition
$55,584
Enrollment
10,764
2. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$56,225
Enrollment
19,548
3. California State University - Bakersfield
Bakersfield, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$7,309
Enrollment
9,142
4. SUNY at Binghamton
Vestal, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$9,808
Enrollment
13,990
5. Villanova University
Villanova, PA • Private
In-state tuition
$53,308
Enrollment
6,819
6. San Diego State University
San Diego, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$7,488
Enrollment
30,018
7. SUNY Farmingdale
Farmingdale, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$8,306
Enrollment
9,394
8. SUNY Stony Brook
Stony Brook, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$9,625
Enrollment
17,407
9. New York University
New York, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$51,828
Enrollment
26,339
10. University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN • Private
In-state tuition
$14,760
Enrollment
31,451
20 best online courses for clinical informatics specialists
Advertising disclosure
1. HI-FIVE: Health Informatics For Innovation, Value & Enrichment (Clinical Perspective)
HI-FIVE (Health Informatics For Innovation, Value & Enrichment) Training is a 12-hour online course designed by Columbia University in 2016, with sponsorship from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). The training is role-based and uses case scenarios. Also, it has additional, optional modules on other topics of interest or relevance. Although we suggest to complete the course within a month's timeframe, the course is self-paced and so you can start and...
2. Nursing Informatics Leadership Theory and Practice
“By the end of this Course, you will be able to…” • Evaluate effective leadership styles for leadership in nursing informatics in clinical or academic contexts to improve leadership success. • Discover core values that support effective nursing informatics leadership in academic and clinical contexts to inform development of a personal leadership mission statement. • Discover competing values and polarities related to knowledge leadership and management to promote successful leadership...
3. Basic of Clinical Data Management
Clinical Data Management...
4. Good Clinical Practice ICH GCP for Clinical Research
Certification on ICH GCP E6 R2 Good Clinical Practice for Clinical Research The Only Complete Course You Can Find Online...
5. Clinical Kidney, Pancreas and Islet Transplantation
Kidney transplantation is a major advance of modern medicine which provides high-quality of life for patients with end-stage renal disease. What used to be an experimental, risky, and very limited treatment option more than 50 years ago is now routinely performed in many countries worldwide. The number of renal transplants is expected to rise sharply in the next decade since the proportion of patients with end stage renal disease is increasing. Are you interested in clinical kidney, pancreas...
6. Clinical Natural Language Processing
This course teaches you the fundamentals of clinical natural language processing (NLP). In this course you will learn the basic linguistic principals underlying NLP, as well as how to write regular expressions and handle text data in R. You will also learn practical techniques for text processing to be able to extract information from clinical notes. Finally, you will have a chance to put your skills to the test with a real-world practical application where you develop text processing...
7. The Beginners Course for Clinical Research
The Essentials of Clinical Trials - Clinical Research for Beginners...
8. Good Clinical Practice for Clinical Research Professionals
The Complete, Certified ICH GCP (R2 & R3) Course for Investigators, Study Coordinators, Sponsors, Monitors and Study staff...
9. Value-Based Care: Managing Processes to Improve Outcomes
COURSE 3 of 7. This course is designed to introduce you to critical office-based processes that a value-based practice must manage in the drive towards improved patient outcomes. In Module 2, we’ll focus on office-based and clinical patient-based supporting functions. At every level in healthcare, guidelines, processes, and functions exist to improve outcomes, and following a consistent process will return the best effect. Refine your understanding of value and learn strategies to provide real...
10. Introduction to Clinical Data Science
This course will prepare you to complete all parts of the Clinical Data Science Specialization. In this course you will learn how clinical data are generated, the format of these data, and the ethical and legal restrictions on these data. You will also learn enough SQL and R programming skills to be able to complete the entire Specialization - even if you are a beginner programmer. While you are taking this course you will have access to an actual clinical data set and a free, online...
11. The Simplest Guide to Clinical Trials Data Analysis with SAS
Step into the world of Pharmaceutical industry Clinical Trials Clinical Research Biostatistics Clinical SAS SAS...
12. Good Clinical Practice (GCP)
Key features of the GCP guideline, roles and responsibilities involved and the requirements of essential documentation...
13. Predictive Modeling and Transforming Clinical Practice
This course teaches you the fundamentals of transforming clinical practice using predictive models. This course examines specific challenges and methods of clinical implementation, that clinical data scientists must be aware of when developing their predictive models...
14. Leading Change in Health Informatics
Do you dream of being a CMIO or a Senior Director of Clinical Informatics? If you are aiming to rise up in the ranks in your health system or looking to pivot your career in the direction of big data and health IT, this course is made for you. You'll hear from experts at Johns Hopkins about their experiences harnessing the power of big data in healthcare, improving EHR adoption, and separating out the hope vs hype when it comes to digital medicine. Whether you're a nurse, pharmacist, physician,...
15. Certificate Course in Clinical Research (CCCR)
A Clinical Research Course-ICH-GCP E6(R2), Clinical Trials, Essential Documents, Sponsor, Investigator, Pharmaceuticals...
16. Clinical Research for beginners
The Art of Publishing - Master Pub Med, Study design, Biostatistics, Journal choice, Manuscript writing & Referencing...
17. Addiction Treatment: Clinical Skills for Healthcare Providers
This course is designed with a singular goal: to improve the care you provide to your patients with substance use disorders. By delving into a model case performed by actors, seven Yale instructors from various fields provide techniques to screen your patients for substance use disorder risk, diagnose patients to gauge the severity of their use, directly manage treatment plans, refer out to treatment services, and navigate the various conditions that may limit your patient’s access to treatment...
18. Prehospital care of acute stroke and patient selection for endovascular treatment using the RACE scale
Acute stroke is a time-dependent medical emergency. In acute ischemic stroke, the first objective is to restore brain flow using sistemic thrombolytic treatment and, in patients with large vessel occlusion, by endovascular treatment. In hemorrhagic stroke there are also specific treatments that can improve the clinical outcome. The sooner the initiation of all these therapies the higher the clinical benefit. Thus, the organization of Stroke Code systems coordinated between emergency medical...
19. Providing Trauma-Informed Care
Exploring psychological trauma and how to provide care and compassion to trauma survivors...
20. Clinical Trials Data Management and Quality Assurance
In this course, you’ll learn to collect and care for the data gathered during your trial and how to prevent mistakes and errors through quality assurance practices. Clinical trials generate an enormous amount of data, so you and your team must plan carefully by choosing the right collection instruments, systems, and measures to protect the integrity of your trial data. You’ll learn how to assemble, clean, and de-identify your datasets. Finally, you’ll learn to find and correct deficiencies...
Top 10 most affordable universities for clinical informatics specialists
The most affordable schools for clinical informatics specialists are SUNY Farmingdale, california state university - bakersfield, and california state university - dominguez hills.
If the best universities for clinical informatics specialists are out of your price range, check out these affordable schools. After factoring in in-state tuition and fees, the average cost of attendance, admissions rate, average net price, and mean earnings after six years, we found that these are the most affordable schools for clinical informatics specialists.
1. SUNY Farmingdale
Farmingdale, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$8,306
Cost of attendance
16,091
2. California State University - Bakersfield
Bakersfield, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$7,309
Cost of attendance
16,714
3. California State University - Dominguez Hills
Carson, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$6,942
Cost of attendance
14,469
4. Brigham Young University
Provo, UT • Private
In-state tuition
$5,620
Cost of attendance
18,136
5. Florida International University
Miami, FL • Private
In-state tuition
$6,556
Cost of attendance
19,434
6. Minot State University
Minot, ND • Private
In-state tuition
$7,064
Cost of attendance
15,576
7. University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez
Mayaguez, PR • Private
In-state tuition
$4,094
Cost of attendance
14,302
8. SUNY Polytechnic Institute
Utica, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$8,238
Cost of attendance
21,567
9. University of Florida
Gainesville, FL • Private
In-state tuition
$6,381
Cost of attendance
21,034
10. Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL • Private
In-state tuition
$5,656
Cost of attendance
21,623
Top 10 hardest universities to get into for clinical informatics specialists
The hardest universities for clinical informatics specialists to get into are University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, and Northwestern University.
Some great schools for clinical informatics specialists are hard to get into, but they also set your career up for greater success. The list below shows the most challenging universities to get into for clinical informatics specialists based on an institution's admissions rates, average SAT scores accepted, median ACT scores accepted, and mean earnings of students six years after admission.
1. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
Admissions rate
8%
SAT average
1,492
2. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
Admissions rate
4%
SAT average
1,497
3. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
Admissions rate
8%
SAT average
1,508
4. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
Admissions rate
13%
SAT average
1,445
5. New York University
New York, NY • Private
Admissions rate
20%
SAT average
1,419
6. Villanova University
Villanova, PA • Private
Admissions rate
29%
SAT average
1,407
7. Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN • Private
Admissions rate
10%
SAT average
1,514
8. George Washington University, The
Washington, DC • Private
Admissions rate
42%
SAT average
1,380
9. SUNY at Binghamton
Vestal, NY • Private
Admissions rate
40%
SAT average
1,376
10. University of Rochester
Rochester, NY • Private
Admissions rate
29%
SAT average
1,422
Top 10 easy-to-apply-to universities for clinical informatics specialists
The easiest schools for clinical informatics specialists to get into are Oklahoma Wesleyan University, d'youville college, and holy names university.
Some schools are much easier to get into. If you want to start your career as a clinical informatics specialist without much hassle, check out the list of schools where you will be accepted in no time. We compiled admissions rates, average SAT scores, average ACT scores, and average salary of students six years after graduation to uncover which were the easiest schools to get into for clinical informatics specialists.
1. Oklahoma Wesleyan University
Bartlesville, OK • Private
Admissions rate
68%
SAT average
964
2. D'Youville College
Buffalo, NY • Private
Admissions rate
100%
SAT average
1,072
3. Holy Names University
Oakland, CA • Private
Admissions rate
70%
SAT average
849
4. Nyack College
New York, NY • Private
Admissions rate
98%
SAT average
999
5. Gwynedd Mercy University
Gwynedd Valley, PA • Private
Admissions rate
92%
SAT average
1,031
6. Notre Dame College
Cleveland, OH • Private
Admissions rate
90%
SAT average
994
7. Mount Saint Mary's University
Los Angeles, CA • Private
Admissions rate
84%
SAT average
1,031
8. Wayland Baptist University
Plainview, TX • Private
Admissions rate
98%
SAT average
1,003
9. Curry College
Milton, MA • Private
Admissions rate
93%
SAT average
1,026
10. Felician University
Lodi, NJ • Private
Admissions rate
81%
SAT average
999
Average clinical informatics specialist salary by education level
| Clinical informatics specialist education level | Clinical informatics specialist salary |
|---|---|
| Master's Degree | $93,377 |
| Bachelor's Degree | $85,027 |
| Doctorate Degree | $91,983 |
| Some College/ Associate Degree | $75,220 |
Clinical informatics specialist education FAQs
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Updated January 8, 2025
Updated January 8, 2025