The nurse informaticist in metropolitan Minnesota: Credentials, salary, perceived roles, and value to the organization.
UNLABELLED: The main objective of this study was to describe nurse informaticists' (NIs) current practice in a large metropolitan area. There is little literature that addresses the understanding of the roles of nurse informaticists from the perspective of the nurse executive. Even if nurse executives in Minnesota desired to find out how many nurse informaticists are practicing in the state, it would be difficult to obtain this data because it is not collected at the state level. The study sought to answer how many NIs ("computer nurses") were employed by various organizations, and what the roles, salary ranges, levels of power, respect, and value of these nurses were. Using a qualitative, exploratory design, nurse leaders who had responsibility for oversight of technical or clinical information systems staff were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. FINDINGS: NIs who were working in organizations with more evolved clinical information systems were performing more of the tasks listed in the Scope and Standards of Nursing Informatics Practice more often than were their counterparts who were involved with less evolved systems. More evolved systems also had higher NI per bed ratios and lower beds per NI ratios. Annual salaries ranged from 51,000 dollars-85,000 dollars, and credentials, including titles, educational preparation, and certification were highly variable. Nurse executives rated the value of NIs in their organizations as high (mean of 9.5 on a 10-point scale). Power and respect questions yielded rich information about the difficulty of transition from the bedside for the NIs studied.