Monday October 1st,
3:30 – 5:30 pm

Nursing informatics is a rewarding field of practice and provides diverse opportunities for individuals who choose this specialty. Nursing informatics practice reaches beyond the walls of the acute care facility into the global community using web based technologies and the Internet. The virtual environment provides a venue that allows nurses to promote nursing, collaborate with others, educate, communicate and share knowledge across great distances to audiences beyond nursing. These audiences include other health care professionals, patients and their families as well as the general public.

This presentation will provide an overview of the role of the nursing informatics specialist as a web professional, communication specialist and usability expert. It will also demonstrate how the Internet is used to promote nursing by creating engaging interactive multimedia web based nursing programs. The Nursing Channel, an innovative nursing project that profiles nursing experiences, innovative practices and nursing stories will be discussed as an example. The impact of this project will be described both at a local as well as a global level.

Cathy Johnson is a Project Manager in Nursing Informatics at the University Health Network. In this corporate nursing role, Cathy manages the development of the Intranet and Internet sites for Nursing and Allied Health as well as the Nursing Channel. Cathy has provided leadership and expertise with the nursing elearning initiative at UHN.

Brenda Laurie-Shaw is the Director of Nursing Informatics at the University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In this corporate, multi-site role Brenda is responsible for identifying the needs and opportunities for nurses to incorporate telecommunications and information technologies in their practice in order to achieve the best possible outcomes of patient care and to advance the practice of nursing. .