One Step Closer to Becoming a Professional Nerdy Nurse

I am a nurse and a nerd.
I love tech, gadgets, geeky things, and innovation. I am pursuing higher education with a focus on nursing informatics. Currently, I practice nursing on a surgical floor and am often to referred to as “the nerd”. I love this.
I am often called upon by my teammates with questions about computers, and advice about electronics. In fact, I’ve already inspired 1 iPad purchase, and likely several more in the near future. I love to share my love of technology with others and see them get excited about gadgets. This is how I feel I can best impact nursing and nursing care.
This is how I feel that I can improved patient outcomes and satisfaction. I want to help other nurses embrace technology and appreciate the wonderful things it can do for us.
I wrote recently about networking. I think this vital piece of career advancement is often overlooked.
In my quest to be involved with nursing informatics (or, well,to be a professional nerdy nurse) at my hospital, I am often refered to talk to others. Unfortunately, I’m usually never given names in this. The most comical answer I get is “thats something that has to go through corporate.” Well understand that. Everything has to go through corporate. But who or how do I go about going through corporate?
Apparently, the right thing to do is call and ask questions. If the person you call doesn’t know the answer, ask them who does. Eventually you’ll get to someone who has some idea about the information you need. I’ve been doing this for a while now and am finally making some progress.
Next week I am meeting with the IT department head, and the current and only nurse informacists ( actually, the clinical systems analysts, is her actual title). He said that he is trying to create another position for a nurse in IT, and although he can’t nessicariky call it an interview at this point, he would like to learn more about me and talk about what I could help them accomplish.
I’m a little bit giddy and quite a bit nervous.
I have so many ideas and projects I would love to discuss with them, but I dont want to sound overwhelming. I also don’t want to disparage the world they do, I just want to help them do it better. I want to help thie nurses do it better.
I believe I’m going to talk about the communication process and how we can facilitate a more unified approach to distributing knowledge. I also think that we need to have people more readily available to answer questions, offer tips, and listen to complaints. I am going to offer to be that person.
We need to take a positive approach to innovation and technology and I really think that I can help people be more adaptable, and dare I say, excited , about technology in healthcare.
Attitude is so important when change is involved. Change is scary and overwhelming. So many nurses see computers as a hindrance to their care. Documentation is a vital portion of the nursing process. Why not make it as efficient and measurable as possible?
I kindly request the advice and words of wisdom from more experienced nurses and those in the IT field. What should I focus on? What might they ask me in this non-interview, pre-interview type meeting?

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