Data abstraction nurses take the plethora of medical information stored in a patient’s chart and develop action steps their medical team can use to provide better, more efficient care. Nurses in this specialty rarely see patients in person. Instead, they spend their time combing through electronic records. Their hours are flexible, and many work from home. Although data abstraction nurses don’t treat patients face-to-face, their work paves the way for better care.
Where Do Data Abstraction Nurses Work?
Nurses who specialize in data abstraction can work in an office setting or from a home office, depending on their employer’s preferences. Data abstraction nurses can work for:
Insurance companies
Hospitals
Pharmaceutical companies
Government organizations
Health technology companies
Independent physician associations
Whichever type of employer data abstraction nurses choose, they will spend most of their time on a computer. With computerized charting now the standard in hospitals and private practices across the country, most medical records can be made available to any location. Even older paper chart records have been scanned into electronic systems, so data abstraction nurses should deal with very few paper charts. Data abstraction nurses need to know their way around the most commonly used electronic medical record types, like:
MEDITECH
EPIC
Praxis
Cerner
MEDHOST
CliniComp
Digging for data in these systems can get confusing, so the more experience a data abstraction nurse has with systems like these, the better.
What Does a Data Abstraction Nurse Do?
Data abstraction nurses carefully comb patient charts and identify important data that could have a bearing on their care plan. They stay in close contact with patients’ doctors and nurses, working to flag vital information and trends in anything from vital signs and labs to assessment results.
More than individual patient trends, data abstractors also look for trends in care and outcomes for the entire patient population of the facility or organization. They can use this data to improve their company’s standard of care and identify recurring issues.
Abstracted data can be used for all kinds of patient care process improvements and is utilized by:
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for quality reporting measures
National Quality Forum (NQF) for quality measure development
The Joint Commission for quality reporting measures
Patient registry (national data on quantity of diagnoses)
To become a data abstraction nurse, candidates first have to graduate from an accredited nursing program with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). A BSN typically takes four years to complete, however, some programs offer an accelerated option that can be finished in as little as a year. Some employers may hire nurses with an Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN), which takes two years to complete.
After graduation, nurses may apply for most nursing jobs right away, and data abstraction nurses usually must get some experience in direct patient care before moving to abstraction. Many facilities hire graduate nurses (GNs) to train on their units under a nurse preceptor while they prepare to take their state licensing exam: the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-RN). After they pass the NCLEX, nurses can finish their facility’s orientation and then practice on their own as registered nurses (RNs).
Data abstraction nurses may also benefit from a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) for this role. An MSN that focuses on leadership and management in healthcare settings can prepare a data abstraction nurse for the “behind-the-scenes” administrative and business side of healthcare.
Nurses with any level of education may take the Data Abstractor eLearning Course offered by the American Heart Association. Data abstraction nurses with some experience can apply for the designation of Certified Health Data Analyst (CHDA). This certification is offered by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). To be eligible for this certification exam, nurses must:
Hold a Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT) or Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA) credential OR
Have a bachelor’s degree or higher from an accredited college or university
AHIMA highly recommends (but does not require) nurses to have the following before applying:
Minimum of 3 years of healthcare data experience
Experience in data acquisition and governance
Oncology abstraction nurses may pursue the Certified Tumor Registrar (CTR) designation. To be eligible, the National Cancer Registrars Association asks for a combination of requirements that can be found on their website.
How Much Does a Data Abstraction Nurse Make Per Year?
Registered nurses make an average of $81,220 per year as of 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). According to Zip Recruiter, however, data abstraction nurses may earn closer to an average of $75,776 annually. This amount can vary depending on your work setting, experience, and the cost of living in the area. The low-end average is $54,995, and the high-end is $117,000.
Salaries also vary depending on which state a data abstraction nurse practices. The following graph was compiled with RN salary data by the BLS, but the comparison should hold true for data abstraction nurses. The West Coast, some New England states, and Alaska may pay their nurses the best, but they also have a higher cost of living. The lowest paying states are in the Midwest and some southeastern states.
The top paying areas for data abstraction nurses include:
Richmond, CA: $95,028
Bellevue, WA: $94,709
Federal Way, WA: $89,951
Stamford, CT: $89,354
San Francisco, CA: $88,618
Santa Clara, CA: $88,602
Pasadena, CA : $88,538
Portland, OR: $87,559
Glendale, CA: $87,486
San Jose, CA: $86,517
Certified data abstraction nurses can be paid more than a nurse who is not certified, depending on the facility. In general, the more experience and proof of expertise, the more a data abstraction nurse can earn.
Are Data Abstraction Nurses in High Demand?
The healthcare system in the United States is always looking for methods to improve care and increase efficiency. Data abstraction nurses have the ability to spend time in patient charts – time that bedside nurses and other healthcare providers may not have. By carefully combing the data, abstraction nurses provide insights that might not have been seen otherwise, and so provide clinical and monetary value to their institutions. As such, they may see increasing demand for their services in the future.
Additional Resources About Becoming a Data Abstraction Nurse
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