ABSTRACT
The six chapters that make up Section I provide a framework for a current state assessment of the degree to which the use of information and communication technologies have permeated nursing practice, educational curricula, and nursing science. While coverage of recent developments in the United States dominates the content in most of these chapters, there is an international focus in fi ve of the six chapters. We recognize that many countries are much further advanced in the adoption of electronic health record (EHR) technologies than the United States and have achieved automation that extends across all levels and venues of care, including to the home and the individual, e.g., Finland, Norway, and Denmark. The value provided from these international perspectives and authors is that it allows us to step back and see the common themes, the variations, and the signifi cance of these factors for the status of professional nursing and its practice in a given country. The power of our ability to do these comparisons and contrasts is that they enable us to clearly identify the differentiators that allow nurses in one country to be included in their country’s EHR strategies and to be recognized as professional members of the healthcare provider community, while in another country, nurses are excluded.
