Informatics and Nursing: Opportunities & Challenges

by Linda Q Thede, PhD, RN

This comprehensive introduction to informatics provides a solid foundation for nurses using computers to perform their professional duties. The text is divided into five units. Unit 1 provides an overview of the benefits of nursing informatics and a review of computer hardware and software characteristics and uses. Unit 2 covers communication with computers, including introductions to the Internet and the World Wide Web. This unit also includes chapters on Internet use by health care consumers and the current and future role of telehealth in medical practice. Unit 3 discusses word processing, working with numbers, presentation software, and databases. Unit 4 and 5 covers nursing informatics as a specialty, nursing information systems, and current issues and challenges facing nursing informatics.