Debate:Are nursing informatics professionals really informaticians or informaticists?

[rwingo]

Mr HISTalk seems to have started an interesting debate over at the HISTalk blog:

Originally Posted by Mr. HISTalk

I covered this a year ago in HIStalk, so allow me to contemplate my own former eloquence as I agree wholeheartedly that the perfectly fine term informatics now means nearly nothing due to misuse:

"What do you call people working in informatics? Are they informaticians or informaticists? My opinion: both terms should be reserved for (a) a healthcare professional with an advanced degree in clinical informatics, or (b) someone working in informatics research, such as bioinformatics (biology, computer science, and statistics combined.) That means few people using the title today would meet either criterion. Whom I've seen sporting these grand titles: system implementation nurses, floor nurses who took the relatively easy ANCC informatics certification; and physicians dabbling in healthcare IT without training or experience. My argument: if your credibility comes from your healthcare practice background, you are still whatever you were, not an informaticist or informatician. Working on a project doesn't change your identity. Plus, informatics is not a term that is specific to healthcare, so an informaticist could work for a steel plant or an advertising company. I bet healthcare PhD informaticists (the real thing) are steamed at the posers flaunting the title with no clue about the science of informatics."

I have a feeling Mr. HISTalk may hear from some of those "poseur" informatics nurses!

IMHO, the problem is not with nursing informatics or with the ANCC exam. The problem is with facilities that put nurses with no information science knowledge, systems analysis experience, or other technical/informatics training in "informatics" roles and expect them to function as professionally trained informatics nurses.

For those of you that are "real" informatics nurses, you might want to give Mr. HISTalk some feedback on why you should be considered an informatician/informaticist.

we have two nurses working in IT now that they call informatics nurses, neither have had any IT or computer training, nor do they intend to get any. I have a difficult time calling them informatics nurses.

[dadsla]

The answer to the question "what do you call people working in informatics; Informaticians or Informaticists" has still not been clarified. I am a healthcare professional with a Master of Science degree in Collaborative Nursing Informatics and my Professor told me I was a Nurse Informatician. Without knowing their academic credentials, I often see others referring to themselves as Nurse Informaticists. So which is it?