Careers in nursing informatics

Technology is a dominating force in our daily lives and healthcare is no exception.

Digital health technologies already play a significant role in enhancing the quality and safety of patient care, and new applications are constantly being developed and adopted. These applications cover many different functions across health services, from record keeping to sharing information, providing clinical support and empowering patients to manage their own health.

Nurses, who make up 54 per cent of Australia’s health workforce, are at the frontline of this digital transformation. As busy practitioners providing all aspects of hands-on care, nurses are expected to learn and use a wide and ever-growing range of digital tools and systems. This is a major challenge for all types of nurses and nursing informatics specialists needed to lead the charge.

A nursing informatics career can place you at the forefront of this rapidly developing field, which is critical to providing world-class healthcare services now and in the future.

Below, we’ll delve into why you might consider a career in nursing informatics, as well as high-paying job opportunities and the leading postgraduate pathway that can kickstart your career in this field.

What areas does nursing informatics cover?

Although the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in healthcare has been advancing for decades, it’s still a frontier field. While some aspects of nursing informatics are considered common practice, other newer areas are still evolving.

The wide variety of healthcare applications and future trends include:

• Electronic Health Records (EHRs)
• clinical decision support systems (CDSS)
• telehealth and telemedicine
• mobile health applications
• wearable health technologies
• artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning

The Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA) believes that rather than replacing nurses, technological advances will actually expand and enhance the role of nurses.

They argue that advanced chatbots and photorealistic avatars lack the ability to provide the care and empathy that a human nurse can offer. Therefore, the role of nurses will become more sophisticated as healthcare organisations adopt these innovations.

Why choose a career in nursing informatics?

Nursing informatics is a fast-moving and exciting sector that’s opening up a world of career possibilities, giving nurses the opportunity to improve patient care while building advanced careers in this in-demand and rapidly growing field.

According to the Western Australia Nursing and Midwifery Digital Health Strategy, nurses are “uniquely positioned to identify, design, refine and deliver technologies that will support and improve the patient experience while retaining the personal and human interaction that is fundamental to their professions.”

As the sector develops, a wide range of positions will become available, including remote, entry-level and specialist nursing informatics jobs.

Make a difference by enhancing patient care and quality

According to the Australasian Institute of Digital Health (AIDH), in many current healthcare systems, patient record keeping is inefficient, information sharing between clinicians is difficult and preventable medical errors remain the third leading cause of death.

The key to solving these problems lies in harnessing the digital revolution, which means building resilient and connected health systems and a digitally competent health workforce. According to the AIDH, this is the way forward to realising efficient, safe and high-quality care that delivers better health outcomes.

Nursing informatics professionals contribute to these goals in many ways, including:

• reducing medical errors
• facilitating more timely and accurate diagnosis
• improving information flow, storage and security of patient records
• building more efficient care services
• improving communication between providers and patients
• enhancing healthcare education and public awareness
• empowering patients to manage their own health
• saving time for busy clinicians
• providing transparency and convenience for patients
• driving research and integration of advanced technologies to improve care and outcomes

Growing demand for nursing informatics professionals

Research shows that “the specialty of nursing informatics has long advocated for the integration of technology to support the profession, but it has comparatively few practitioners globally.”

In Australia, significant efforts have been made to develop frameworks, strategies, and standards (both national and state) to build the nursing informatics workforce, but this has yet to be translated into embedded digital health training for nurses.

Combine this with the fact that the healthcare informatics industry is expanding exponentially worldwide, with Precedence Research forecasting that this sector will double its worth to over A$120 billion by 2030. Australia is no exception to this trend.

These facts add up to a robust and rapidly growing demand for professionals with qualifications and experience in nursing informatics, both in applied nursing, and in education and training.

Opportunities for professional growth in a thriving and impactful field

Australia’s National Nursing and Midwifery Digital Health Capability Framework emphasises the importance of nurses being actively involved in advocacy, policy development and leadership for digital health throughout the sector.

The framework emphasises that nurses are needed in informatics leadership positions to ensure that technology enhances patient care and that professional development for nurses in all aspects of digital health is a high priority.

This provides the groundwork for nurses to develop, grow and build advanced careers in this specialisation.

Nurses can also pursue recognised qualifications in this field, such as Victoria University Online’s Graduate Certificate in Nursing Informatics Leadership.

6 top nursing informatics careers

Nursing informatics specialists work in a broad range of roles that suit a diversity of personalities and skills—from helping design better systems to teaching nurses digital skills, and leading ICT functions in hospitals and healthcare services.

Six of the top roles in this sector, including their responsibilities and Australian salaries, are outlined here.

Informatics Officer or Nursing Informatics Officer

Nursing informatics officers work in hospitals and healthcare services to manage and improve digital systems such as Electronic Medical Records (EMR).

These roles aim to bridge the gap between clinical practice and technology by facilitating the adoption and effective use of digital health applications.

Responsibilities include:

• supporting workflows in nursing informatics systems
• reviewing and analysing informatics workflows to identify problems and potential improvements
• supporting the delivery of staff training programs in digital health systems
• reporting to senior staff and managers

Informatics officers in the nursing and health fields earn a median annual salary of $113,000.

Informatics Coordinator

Nursing informatics coordinators work in hospitals and healthcare networks (such as Primary Health Networks) to implement initiatives defined under digital transformation strategies.

They often work across healthcare services in a specific region to improve the uptake of digital technologies in whole systems.

Responsibilities include:

• planning and delivery of digital health programs to drive information sharing and healthcare improvement
• establishing and maintaining partnerships to improve the uptake and use of informatics
• building workforce capacity and consumer literacy in digital health
• monitoring compliance with strategies, policies, procedures and budgets
• reporting on performance outcomes of digital health initiatives

Informatics coordinators in the nursing and health fields earn a median annual salary of $116,000.

Clinical Nurse or Informatics Nurse

Informatics nurses manage data-related functions in clinical settings such as hospitals and healthcare services.

These roles require a mix of clinical nursing skills and ICT experience to ensure that data collection and management is efficient, user-friendly and compliant with ethical and clinical standards.

Responsibilities include:

• accurately entering information into databases
• auditing data
• coding health problems and procedures
• responding to data-related queries
• training staff in these areas

The median annual salary is $124,000.

Nursing Informatics Consultant

Consultants in nursing informatics provide specialised skills in particular areas of digital health. They often work across multiple sites within the same health service to ensure that systems are integrated, connected and consistent.

Consultants can work on specific projects, such as supporting the implementation of an EMR system or overseeing the adoption of new technologies.

Responsibilities include:

• driving continuous improvement in safety and quality of care through informatics
• advising on the development, selection and integration of digital systems and devices
• problem-solving using clinical expertise
• workflow optimisation
• change management
• developing and delivering training and professional development

The median annual salary is $134,000.

Nursing Informatics Educator

Nursing informatics educators work in hospitals, healthcare services and educational institutions to develop and deliver specialised training for nursing staff and students.

This can include professional development, mandatory staff training and delivery of educational courses in nursing informatics.

Responsibilities include:

• planning and delivering training courses
• evaluating and assessing skills and knowledge
• using clinical and informatics expertise to ensure course content is up-to-date and engaging
• supervising clinical placements
• providing student support

Nursing educators, including those who specialise in informatics, earn a median annual salary of $111,000.

Chief Nursing Informatics Officer

Chief nursing informatics officers play a leadership role in overseeing the development and delivery of digital health strategies in hospitals and healthcare services.

These roles focus on the strategic management of data and information across organisations, and the innovative use of ICT. Leadership extends across all the different departments using nursing informatics systems.

Responsibilities include:

• strategic planning
• team management and mentoring
• using informatics and clinical expertise in decision-making and problem-solving
• liaising between senior management and staff, and between departments
• managing budgets
• overseeing compliance with regulations, policies and organisational requirements
• providing high-level advice, for example, in response to media or public enquiries

Chief nursing officers, including those who specialise in informatics, earn a median annual salary of $141,000.

Lead innovation with an Australian-first degree

VU Online’s Graduate Certificate in Nursing Informatics Leadership is Australia’s first postgraduate course focusing on this specialist area.

It develops a strong foundation for advanced careers in this vital nursing sector and enables you to graduate ready to create change and deliver superior health outcomes.

Delivered 100% online with VU’s award-winning Block Model, the course can be completed part-time in as little as eight months and provides the flexibility to study around work and personal commitments. It’s also a stepping stone into VU Online’s Master of Nursing.

Take the lead and empower yourself through technology with VU Online’s Graduate Certificate in Nursing Informatics Leadership.

Interested in learning more? Speak to our Student Enrolment Advisors on 1300 682 051 or email futurestudy@online.vu.edu.au.