From its beginnings, nursing has incorporated the activities of collecting, managing, processing, and transforming information and then communicating that information to others on the health care team. With the introduction of computer technology into health care, many changes have occurred in the management of information. This led to the development of informatics which essentially is a new framework for organizing and managing data and information. Gorn defined informatics in 1983 as computer science plus information science.<sup>10 Graves J.K., Corcoran-Perry S. The study of nursing informatics Holis Nurs Pract 1996 ;  11 : 15

Cliccare qui per andare alla sezione Riferimenti, 19 National Center for Nursing Research   Nursing Informatics: Enhancing Patient Care Bethesda MD: US Dept Health and Human Services publication NIH 93-2419 (1993). 

Cliccare qui per andare alla sezione Riferimenti</sup> Used in conjunction with the name of a discipline, such as medicine or nursing, it denotes an application of computer science and information science that is used in the processing of information and knowledge in the named discipline. The growth of nursing and medical informatics has had a definite effect on the care of patients in the 1990s, but the growth and adoption of informatics has been slower than anticipated. The history of nursing informatics, its current applications, the role of informatics in guiding clinical practice, and the effect on critical care medicine are explored in this article. The present revolution in health care has created a revolution in information management, and this is being seen in critical care units everywhere.<sup>15 Lange L.L. Informatics nurse specialists: Roles in health care organizations Nurs Admin Q 1997 ;  21 : 1  [cross-ref]

Cliccare qui per andare alla sezione Riferimenti</sup> Those critical care practitioners that can manage the information will be successful in providing high-quality, cost-effective care.