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Kimberly Elenberg, RN, originally wanted to go back
to school to become a pediatric nurse practitioner,
but a graduate program that let her continue to work
full time allowed her to advance her career even before
she completed her studies.
The graduate program she chose was one of the country's
only programs in nursing informatics, at the University
of Maryland's Baltimore campus. "I've always had
an interest in computers," Elenberg said. While
at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Elenberg built an
education center, a cluster of computers linking hospitalized
children with cancer to their families and friends around
the world. Seeing the success of this project sparked
a passion for computer technology that led her to UM.
After being promoted from staff nurse at Walter Reed
to head nurse of the pediatrics, hematology and oncology
clinic there, Elenberg entered the UM graduate school.
Meanwhile, she switched her day job to research nurse
in pediatrics and oncology at the National Institutes
of Health, then came to the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
after her deployment for the response to the anthrax
scare after the Sept. 11 attacks.
By this time, Elenberg, a full-time, active-duty nurse,
had moved from the Army branch of the U.S. uniformed
services to the United States Health Service Commissioned
Corps (USPHS), under the auspices of the U.S. surgeon
general. She now holds the title of consumer compliant
monitoring system (CCMS) program manager in the Human
Health Sciences Division of the USDA's Food Safety and
Inspection Service (FSIS).
As an outgrowth of her role as CCMS program manager
and with the skills gained from this program, Elenberg
is participating in the development of a universal information
technology system that will augment public health responses
to naturally occurring and intentional outbreaks, as
a member of a National Science Foundation working committee.
"I want to help people, and the program at Maryland
has increased my skills so that they are applicable
on a more national and international level vs. just
at the bedside," Elenberg said.
Elenberg, who holds the rank of lieutenant commander
in the USPHS, says the master of science degree she
will be awarded next year at UM "definitely has
implications for promotion, but the bottom line is I'm
really honored to be in public service."
Graduates of the UM nursing informatics program are
trained to analyze nursing information requirements,
design system alternatives, manage information technology,
identify and implement user training strategies and
evaluate the effectiveness of clinical or management
information systems in patient care.
"Informatics is just a tool," said Kathleen
Charters, Ph.D., RN, an assistant professor at UM who
coordinates the nursing informatics program. "Most
students want to apply it to a particular field of study."
It's not unusual for a grad student in the program to
have a dual concentration in informatics and in administration
or managed care or health policy, she said.
At present, 150 students are enrolled in the school
of nursing's master's program, 15 in the doctoral program
and 15 to 20 students in a post-master's certificate
program. Students can complete a master's program in
two years, but many take classes part time and have
up to five years to complete the master's. Doctoral
students theoretically can complete their work in four
years, "but that would be getting their dissertation
done in an extraordinarily short time," Charters
said. Doctoral candidates are strongly encouraged to
have a master's degree in nursing already, she added.
Preference is given to Maryland residents, but a fair
number of out-of-state students are enrolled, she said.
After its initial blossoming some years ago, the number
of graduate schools offering nursing informatics programs
has shrunk, Charters said. "A lot of programs migrated
into what I call health informatics, where they were
looking at training multidisciplinary teams," she
said. "There [are] a lot of those programs out
there today. There are pros and cons to each approach,
but we've remained focused on nursing informatics, teaching
our people to be part of a team, but speaking up for
what nurses need."
"Hospitals have realized the necessity for the
informatics nurse, and there simply have not been enough
out in the field with the broad IT education and experience
needed," said George Harbeson, MSN, RN, president
of the American Nursing Informatics Association, based
in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. "Enter forward-thinking
nursing schools that have introduced IT at both the
undergraduate and graduate levels in their curriculums
and have gone on to offer informatics as a graduate
program."
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