Setting a national informatics agenda for nursing education and practice to prepare nurses to develop and use information technology

Efforts to build a telecommunications infrastructure that will link people nationally and internationally includes a focus on health care. A telecommunications infrastructure will add value to providers and consumers of health care only if they are able to use it to access and share information. Nurses often have information technology available to them, but are inadequately prepared to use it. Under the direction of the National Advisory Council for Nursing Education and Practice (NACNEP), the Division of Nursing convened a panel of experts in nursing informatics to recommend an informatics agenda. Using a nominal group technique the informatics experts identified informatics needs and recommended initiatives that would better prepare nurses to use and develop information technology. Their recommendations were reviewed by NACNEP resulting in a national informatics agenda for nursing education and practice.