Nursing Informatics Workforce: Looking to the Future

To support a healthy clinical workforce, healthcare efficiencies are a necessity.  Through the use of technology, informaticists are skilled at integrating processes into workflows and leveraging data to support clinical decision-making. In particular, nursing informatics has evolved into an integral part of healthcare delivery and a differentiating factor in the selection, implementation, and evaluation of health IT that supports safe, high-quality, patient-centric care. Given their expertise in using technology at the point of care, nurse informaticists may be the key to healthcare transformation.  In this session, we will present the current state of the nursing informatics workforce and report on the latest trends from the 2023 HIMSS Nursing Informatics Workforce survey. We will discuss the value that nursing informatics bring to the healthcare setting and potential strategies to increase the number of nurse informaticists. (NI). We will also describe the role that NIs play in innovation efforts and the connection to innovation resources. With efforts underway by the HIMSS Nursing Informatics community, we will outline focus areas to advance the future of nursing informatics over the next decade. Lastly, we will conclude with a call to action for the Health IT community that promotes the nursing informatics profession.