How To Become An Informatics Nurse: What It Is and Career Path

What is an informatics nurse and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Kathrine Skurski

The average informatics nurse salary is $99,161. The most common degree is a bachelor's degree degree with an nursing major. It usually takes 2-4 years of experience to become an informatics nurse. Informatics nurses with a Informatics Nursing (RN-BC) certification earn more money. Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 9% and produce 56,000 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to an informatics nurse?

Kathrine Skurski

Nursing instructor, Morton College

Nursing is not a stagnant career. It is always changing and improving. Our nursing leaders and advocates are working hard to prove our value and importance in improving patient outcomes. New nursing guidelines and evidence-based practices/protocols are being developed continually. As a result, the skills you learned in nursing school will be obsolete in less than a decade. You will need to stay abreast of the changes and refine your skills as your organization's patient care practices evolve.
For this reason, new grads need to stay open-minded to learning new things. Every day you clock in for your shift will be another opportunity for advancement as a professional in nursing. Patients, medical staff, and leadership will throw away the rule book and change everything you thought you knew about nursing. You can think of those experiences as obstacles standing in the way of your happiness or skills that will help you grow. With that in mind, new grad nurses should always strive for more training and education. The more comprehensive your knowledge base, the more apt you are to being comfortable in any patient care setting or critical situation. Whether your passion is to get a master's degree or become certified in a specialty, your knowledge and education will be instrumental.

ScoreInformatics NurseUS Average

Salary

7.6

Avg. Salary $99,161

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.7

Growth rate 9%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.19%

Asian 13.06%

Black or African American 10.41%

Hispanic or Latino 11.15%

Unknown 5.02%

White 60.18%

Gender

female 71.18%

male 28.82%

Age - 42

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 42

Stress level

7.7

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.0

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.3

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an informatics nurse

Explore informatics nurse education requirements

Most common informatics nurse degrees

Bachelor's

42.9 %

Associate

30.4 %

Master's

21.1 %

Start to develop specific informatics nurse skills

Skills	Percentages
Clinical Practice	24.57%
Clinical Applications	13.05%
BLS	8.17%
Patient Safety	7.96%
Clinical Documentation	7.49%

Complete relevant informatics nurse training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New informatics nurses learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an informatics nurse based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real informatics nurse resumes.

Research informatics nurse duties and responsibilities

Assist with designing, managing, building and coordinating information processing for Cerner implementation.
Serve as the physician liaison for computerized-provider order entry (CPOE).
Complete documents for state fund Medicaid programs, admission into community nursing and group home facilities and other community resources available.
Float throughout hospital, providing nursing care on medical, surgical, telemetry, pulmonary-ventilator, rehabilitation, and intensive care units

Apply for informatics nurse jobs

Now it's time to start searching for an informatics nurse job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams