Computer use in nursing management

Nursing interest in computer use is on the increase; to date, however, its focus has been on clinical applications. Manually processing the volume of information needed to effectively and efficiently manage a modern nursing department becomes more difficult daily. This paper investigates published nursing management computer applications. It points to the need to look beyond the simple administrative to true management information systems, and outlines a role for the nurse administrator in preparing and implementing automatic data processing (ADP) plans.