You work in post-acute or long term care—how important is the role of the nurse informaticist in that setting? What recommendations would you offer to nurses who want to learn more about informatics or healthcare professionals who want to go to nursing school? What are the advantages to a career in nursing informatics?Join Maria Arellano, MS, RN, clinical product manager at American HealthTech (a post-acute care software company) and has nearly 30 years' experience in nursing, specializing in post- acute care including direct care, nursing administration, consulting and teaching. She was a quality improvement specialist for Colorado's quality improvement organization and assisted nursing homes and home care agencies with regulatory compliance and quality improvement activities. Arellano has served as an expert witness, providing consultation to attorneys on nursing standards of care and nursing home operations. As clinical product manager, she is responsible for planning and execution of the clinical software design throughout the product lifecycle. Arellano has presented national and statewide workshops on clinical and leadership topics. As vice president of AANAC, she assisted with the development of the MDS certification program, served on a technical expert panel for Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, and provided policy analysis to the association membership. She is a member of CMS's CARE (Continuity Assessment Record and Evaluation) Technical Expert Panel (TEP) and serves on the Nursing Informatics Committee for HIMSS. Arellano is a member of the HIMSS Nursing Informatics Committee, which was founded in 2003 in response to the increased recognition of the role of the informatics nurse professional in healthcare information and management systems. She is also a HIMSS Nurse Informatics e-Mentor.