Informatics nurse specialist: roles in health care organizations.

The cost of managing and processing health care information is a significant component of hospital operating budgets, yet health care lags far behind other industries in the effective use of information technology. As nurses are the largest group of users of health care information, improving nurses' information management capability could have a significant impact. Informatics nurse specialists understand the concepts and technology of nursing information management and can provide operational and strategic benefits to nursing organizations. In this article, educational preparation, certification, and roles of informatics nurse specialists are discussed along with functions of health care information technology and nursing informatics.