ABSTRACT
Introduction For the last thirty plus years, educational programs that target informatics have been scarce and not consistently part of the higher education venue. In the early 1970s, Anderson et al1
wrote about the need to educate healthcare professionals about informatics. Since that time, numerous graduate degree programs were established in nursing, medical, and interdisciplinary healthcare professional schools, but demand still outweighs the ability of the programs to meet informatics educational needs. The route taken to meet the demand for nursing informatics educational programs has varied internationally. This chapter indicates some broad approaches and developments that have both driven and impacted the path of informatics education. A number of key developments have been led by nurses in North America; hence, there is a strong U.S. perspective within this chapter. This perspective is not meant to reduce or dismiss the growth in nursing informatics educational programs that has occurred and is occurring in Europe, South America, and Australasia, but rather refl ects the dominance of North American initiatives within the last fi ve years.
