Online Graduate Certificates in Nurse Informatics
MHA Search
Information is vital to the profession of nursing. Nurses utilize information in everyday practice to make many decisions critical to the interests of their patients. Nursing professionals interested in applying computer and information sciences to support patient care may enjoy nursing informatics.
Nursing informatics is a specialized nursing field that utilizes computer and information sciences to support nursing professionals’ daily responsibilities and improve patient care for individuals and entire cohorts. Nurses who practice within this field are called nurse informaticists. Nurse informaticists perform various duties, including developing and continuing improvement of varied healthcare technologies. Using computerized systems, nurses can improve the efficiency of information collection, storage, and dissemination; reduce the risk of costly and dangerous medical errors and delays; and generate knowledge useful to the study and improvement of patient outcomes.
Communication is a critical element in the nursing profession. Nursing communications consists of three vital elements: data, information, and knowledge. Data is typically material that is uninterpreted and may be collected via observation or with the use of some technology. Information is data that has been interpreted by human analysis or through some form of computerized programming. Finally, knowledge is a synthesis of information that ultimately serves as the foundation for nursing professionals to provide quality patient care.
Through the application of effective communication and other skills, nurse informaticists may work in various roles, including patient care, education, research, and computer program development and management. Nurse informaticists may apply their knowledge to improve processes related to many concerns, including patient safety, loss prevention, quality control, and nursing personnel management. Successful management of such issues is vital to the effective operations of healthcare organizations.
Students who complete a nursing informatics certificate program will better understand how technology is used to support the nursing profession. Graduate certificates in nurse informatics will typically introduce students to several topics, including foundational informatics theory, data science, systems design, and data and project management. Some programs allow for substantial student customization of their curriculum such that students can ultimately find opportunities within a niche specialty within the broader field of nursing informatics.
Nursing professionals seeking advancement are more likely to experience good outcomes if they complete their graduate certificate within an accredited program. The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) is the accrediting entity typically responsible for accrediting both collegiate nursing degree programs and post-master’s degree certificate programs within the nursing profession. CCNE serves the public interest by identifying, assessing, and accrediting programs that utilize effective educational practices. Through accreditation, CCNE supports continual quality improvement in nursing education programs operating within the United States.
Featured Graduate Certificates in Nurse Informatics
The City University of New York (CUNY) offers an advanced certificate in nursing informatics. This 18-credit program consists of four specialty courses and a graduate elective. One of the specialty courses is a practicum. Course topics include information system management, project management, systems analysis, and nursing informatics applications.
Graduates may fill roles with titles such as clinical informatics nurse, informatics nurse specialist, and RN clinical applications coordinator. Graduates also hold the skills to sit for the American Nurses Credentialing Center Informatics Nursing Certification Examination.
To be accepted into this certificate program, applicants must hold a master’s degree in nursing, have a minimum GPA of 3.0 or higher in their nationally accredited bachelor’s and master’s degree programs, and hold an unencumbered nursing license.
- Location: New York, NY
- Accreditation: Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE)
- Tuition: $470 per credit for NY residents; $855 for out-of-state residents, plus fees
- Program length: 18 credits, one year
Jacksonville University offers a nursing informatics post-graduate certificate (NI-PGC). This 12- to 15-credit program features a curriculum and practicum modeled after the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) informatics certification. Course content includes topics including foundations of nursing informatics, advanced topics in nursing informatics, population health informatics, and epidemiology.
Courses are offered in the autumn each year. Applicants must submit transcripts showing a minimum GPA of at least 3.0 on a 4-point scale and have an active US nursing license. Students with a minimum GPA less than 3.0 may still be considered but are asked to submit additional application materials that may include GRE/GMAT scores, letters of recommendation, and a statement of intent.
- Location: Jacksonville, FL
- Accreditation: Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE)
- Tuition: $675 per credit, plus fees
- Program length: 12 to 15 credits, one year
Northeastern State University offers a 12-credit graduate nursing certificate in nursing informatics. The curriculum consists of four courses focused on the topics of foundations of nursing informatics, system design and planning, data management and healthcare technology, and leadership development.
The curriculum is designed in alignment with the core competencies articulated by the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE). Students may receive the additional support of an academic coach. Graduates of this program may work in settings such as hospitals, corporate healthcare system offices, and home health agencies.
To participate in this program, students must meet several admissions requirements. These include possession of a bachelor’s degree in nursing from a regionally accredited college or university and a nationally accredited nursing program, completion of a statistics and nursing research course with a satisfactory grade, holding a current, unencumbered RN license, meeting certain cumulative GPA requirements, and being a resident of an NC-SARA state.
- Location: Tahlequah, OK
- Accreditation: Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN)
- Tuition: $370.40 per credit for in-state students, plus fees
- Program length: 12 credits, eight to 12 months
The University of Maryland School of Nursing (UMSON) offers a 19-credit nursing informatics certificate. The curriculum includes a practicum in nursing and health informatics. Other courses focus on topics such as technology solutions for knowledge creation, IT project management, healthcare database systems, and systems analysis.
Graduates hold the skills needed to enhance patient care and outcomes via the use of evidence-based practices and offer leadership in the design and research of computerized healthcare information systems. Course content aligns with UMSON’s Nursing Informatics master’s degree program. Students wishing to pursue additional study within this graduate degree program may find this certificate program to be a good point of entry into advanced study.
Successful applicants must hold a bachelor’s degree in nursing, a master’s degree in nursing (or another field such as nurse practitioner tracks, health services, and public health), retain an active and unrestricted US RN license for the state in which they will complete their practicum, and have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 for their undergraduate and graduate degrees.
- Location: Baltimore, MD
- Accreditation: Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE)
- Tuition: $856 per credit in-state; $1,519.00 per credit for out of state, plus fees
- Program length: 19 credits, 15 to 21 months
The University of Utah offers an interdisciplinary informatics certificate program. This 15-credit hour program offers training in core informatics topics and knowledge in specialized areas such as bioinformatics, public health informatics, clinical/nursing informatics, and data science. This program allows students to intensively customize their educational experience to meet their own learning objectives.
After choosing one among four courses focused on the foundations of informatics, students select their remaining courses to align with their particular focus. These courses must be drawn from the course lists of the Nursing Informatics Program and Biomedical Informatics Department course listings.
- Location: Salt Lake City, UT
- Accreditation: Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE)
- Tuition: Contact the university for a customized assessment
- Program length: 15 credits, one year
The Vanderbilt University School of Nursing offers an online post-graduate certificate in nursing informatics. This part-time program is specifically designed for nurses already working in nursing informatics and for nurses seeking to transition into this specialty. The curriculum emphasizes analytics but also ultimately prepares students with the foundational and advanced knowledge necessary to work in several roles. The program consists of six courses designed to be completed in four semesters over a period of approximately 15 months.
- Location: Nashville, TN
- Accreditation: Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE)
- Tuition: $1,883 per credit
- Program length: 18 credits, 15 months (includes a summer semester)
