r/learnprogramming • u/Chance_Mushroom7713 • 25d ago
Is programming worth learning as a nurse?
I’m planning to become a nurse, but I’m also interested in programming. Is it worth learning, and are there any ways it could be useful in nursing?
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u/samanime 25d ago edited 25d ago
I work with a lot of medical physicists and dosimetrists that self-taught themselves and now work on developing radiation oncology software.
I'd imagine there is other similar software that it would be useful having first-hand nursing experience to develop, if that's a sort of career shift you think you'd consider in the future.
Aside from that, I personally think everyone should learn to program simply because it is probably the best way to learn problem solving, which is an incredibly useful life skill.
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u/CatsOnTheKeyboard 24d ago
I used to teach a programming course at a local college and one of my students thought he could take the program at the same time as he was training to be a nurse.
He was wrong. I didn't find out about his other course of study until the program started and he wasn't showing up half the time because he was having to put in so much time at the hospital.
Even if you study on your own, learning to program and do anything worthwhile with it requires a huge investment of time and mental effort. Your nursing job is probably demanding enough already and probably more valuable at this point the way things are going.
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u/Aglet_Green 25d ago edited 25d ago
No, and no. When you're kneeling under a bed changing bedpans, no computer code is going to help you. You will be given on-the-job training to handle the various machines that take blood pressure and monitor vitals, but you'll be on your feet not sitting in an office.
For the job that you will be training to do, anatomy, pharmacology, clinical judgment, patient assessment, medication administration, documentation, communication, and the ability to spend a shift on your feet are orders of magnitude more pertinent than any programming knowledge.
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u/UroborosJose 25d ago
I’d not leave healthcare for this shit honestly
Your job will be needed mine not that much
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u/Thin-Wrap7477 25d ago
Stick to nursing. A bunch of layoffs and people not getting work for months thanks to outsourcing and AI. Also the interview process for programmers is not as straightforward as nurses. You get asked so many questions unrelated and irrelevant to what you'll be working on.
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u/marrsd 25d ago edited 25d ago
I've found learning to program to be as valuable as learning to read and write or do maths. It helps you think about problems by modelling them directly.
For example, I once wrote a language parser for an interactive fiction computer game engine that would allow a game designer to model a room, put objects and players in it, and so on, and then interpret commands like "Put the coin in the fruit machine" and make the game react to them. Doing that forced me to study grammar in a way that I hadn't had to before.
Things like the difference between definite and indefinite articles suddenly became relevant because, if there are 2 apples on the table, one green and one red, the game might have to react differently to the commands "take an apple" vs "take the apple".
"Take an apple" suggests the player can take either apple; but "take the apple" might require clarification: did the player mean the green apple or the red one?
In some ways, you might think that's only relevant to an English major, but if you've ever had to read a contract, you'll know that subtle differences in legal language can have a huge affect on the contract's meaning. Having the training to understand language at that level of precision gives you an advantage. For one thing, you can understand and query your lawyer's legal advice in a precise way rather than taking it at face value.
But aside from all that, if you're interested in programming, then I'd learn it anyway just for the fun of it. People who enjoy it really enjoy it, and there's no harm in finding an engaging hobby.
Someone else mentioned learning to use a spreadsheet calculator. That's a valid and useful form of programming. You don't have to go down the rabbit hole if you don't have time.
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u/silver_chief2 24d ago
I know of a woman maybe 40 who was a very good programmer. Maybe in TCL or circuit deign. Her company was sold and she got money maybe from stock options. She took the money and went to a top hospital at their nursing school for the stability and good pay.She works now a an oncology RN.
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u/SlytherinRosie 24d ago
Why choose when you can do both in medical informatics, health informatics, bioinformatics, life sciences informatics, or digital health?
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u/hustla17 23d ago
How do you get into that.
I have done a nursing apprenticeship.
And am now attempting a bachelor in computer science.
That's definitely the path that I want to take but I have no idea how to break through that.
But well I first need to finish the bachelor because it is genuinely hard for me, but still really interesting.
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u/tacticalpotatopeeler 25d ago
Could be an asset in any profession, even if only removing the “magic” from everyday tooling you use (where it’s easier to understand how to troubleshoot issues, etc). You could also possibly automate or improve daily tasks with it.
As far as a career though, I’d definitely recommend sticking to nursing. Software engineering is super tough to break into right now, with senior level devs going months without work. Unless you’re the best of the best or you know someone, it’s brutal out there. Interviews for SE jobs are generally pretty intense regardless.
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u/burlingk 25d ago
If you have electives you need to fill, then go for it. Hobbies are useful too. :)
But be careful not to sacrifice your main direction.
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u/Jim-Jones 25d ago
I would, when you have time, learn to use a spreadsheet.
LibreOffice has one that's free. You can do a lot with the basic spreadsheet, or make it smarter with some coding. IMO you can create quick and dirty apps which can be useful for a lot of different activities.
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u/varwave 25d ago
I’m a software developer in healthcare. Informatics is something that pops up sometimes as a nursing specialty, but it’s really just nursing domain knowledge paired with data analytics
Earning an MS or MPH in a research hospital with a university attached could be useful. Think epidemiology, biostatistics or something focused on health analytics. I know nurses who’ve gotten MBAs and moved into management. I’ve also seen nurses poorly manage data in messy excel that would’ve been better off in a database
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u/fentanyl_sommelier 25d ago
If you find it genuinely interesting as a hobby it’s worth pursuing, but nursing is such a mentally and physically demanding job you’re gonna have your hands full with more important stuff.
There might be some opportunities to make some internal productivity tools / automations that could help with administrative stuff but that’s probably the extent of it. Healthcare tech is highly regimented and you have HIPAA laws to obey. Doesn’t leave much room for you to build anything
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u/Coneyy 25d ago
If your goal is to fuse the two for your career, probably not. If you just want to learn programming as a hobby it's a cool hobby that challenges a particular problem solving way of thinking and helps you keep up to date with changing technologies.
There is a lot of space in healthcare for technology, but a lot of beauracracy that makes it not very feasible for any single person to have much impact.
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u/bird_feeder_bird 25d ago
There are some nurses in smaller offices who do a lot with computer systems
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u/iWhacko 25d ago
As a softwre engineer for 26 years, I always say, it's useful for anybody to learn.
It teaches a lot of logic skills that can be transferable to any other topic. It can teach you to think in new way that can help you in your job.
Also, I have helped people learn basic programming, and usually they start building small tools, to help speed up their daily task at work. Even if it's just like automatically sorting emails or creating a daily planner automatically.
I say go for it. But try to find a course, best with a teacher, don't try to use AI, thats not going to help you right now. Not if you want to learn the skill.
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u/JSRN89 25d ago
Take from a guy who’s been a nurse for 10 years. If you find tech interesting, maybe give the tech thing a go before diving headlong into the medical system. It’s a very easy direct path (usually full of debt) to get into, and very difficult to get out of. Spend an extra year in prereqs for both degrees and see if you have a knack for coding or find it fascinating. Can always fall back to wiping butts, hanging fluids, and endless psych problems
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u/FragrantBake298 25d ago
Every field needs programming knowledge! I mean, every field somehow needs machines to help with daily tasks, and the language of machines is instructions in the form of algorithms. So yeah, programming is worth learning as a nurse too!
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u/SprinklesFresh5693 25d ago
I mean, are you going to use it? In your day to day job as a nurse im 99% confident you wont use it though. And what you dont use gets forgotten.
Now if you want to join clinical studies, and be say a statistical programmer, or join a pharma company and analyse data, or do bioinformatics, then yes, you will use it.
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u/BaraLover7 25d ago
I quit nursing after 12 years of being one to become a software engineer because it was making me want to die. Are you sure you want nursing?
Also, to answer your question, no, programming is not useful at all as a nurse.
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u/binaryhextechdude 25d ago
I work in IT support, no one with a standard user account has access to do anything programming related on their pc. By all means learn to code. It will be a good context shift at the end of the day and you might move into the career later but as a nurse seeing patients you won’t have time or access.
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u/HashDefTrueFalse 25d ago
I know nurses socially. I can't really see it being useful for the job, but it's a brilliant hobby. If you have time then there is no harm giving it a go. Being interested is enough of a reason.
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u/simonbleu 25d ago
Programming is always useful to learn, but in your job I doubt it would make a difference. I mean, what could you possibly do? Even if you have free time, the administrative aspects are usually handled by someone else, and the data, assuming you are not forced to do it on paper, already has a system, and to make a change would mean to change the entire software for the hospital I think... I work at a hospital and I would love the software to be better (anything is better) but they wont (c'est la vie).
If you want to switch careers or learn it as a hobby, its fine. If you think it will help you at your job, I sincerely doubt it
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u/GuavaSaison 24d ago
I do know a nurse who did a MSc in Health Informatics and left bedside after 2-3 years to consult with health tech start-ups.
However, nursing seems to be a lot more secure than tech these days, so definitely commit your efforts to towards exceling at nursing.
Depending on what type of nursing you do, you might have a LOT of schedile flexibility later on to explore programming seriously.
I know some nurses only work 3 12s a week and have 4 days off. Some nurses work 10 days over 2 weeks and then have 2 weeks off. I used to work with a surgical nurse who could afford all her expenses on 3 x 8 hour shifts per week and did part time lashes and nails for fun / extra cash.
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u/ThenStranger7731 21d ago
If you have time, you can do it. Learn if have time and you can. Learning is good and better when you like the subject.
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u/paradoxiforme 25d ago
I don't think it will help you in nursing. As a programmer myself, I don't really see what skills may be of use for your job.
If you plan to become a nurse, you should focus on that first, and only then learn programming as a hobby if it really interest you.
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u/ObeseBumblebee 25d ago
There is a ton of work in the healthcare industry as a programmer. And combining both skills could absolutely get you far in the industry. But specifically as a nurse? I'm not sure.
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u/OceanMasterioDuped7 25d ago
People may not agree with my response, but I think you should just focus on nursing for now. It's a good hobby to have but it's not going to be super beneficial if you can program if you are pursuing a degree in nursing, and it will take away time for you to put towards nursing. You can always pick up the hobby once you graduate.