1980's:

  • The size of personal computers (PC) became smaller while their capabilities increased (Saba, 2001).  These technological advancements created high expectations for the benefits of nursing informatics (Thede, 2012).



  • Nursing informatics originated in 1980’s to refer to computer technology, computer system, data processing (Saba, 2001).



  • During the 1980’s there were significant financial investments and a big educational push to educate nurses in informatics (Norris & Brittain, 2012; Saba, 2001).  And by 1985, computer technology classes were being offered at undergraduate and graduate levels (Saba, 2001). 



  • The Computers in Nursing journal was founded (Saba, 2001).



  • International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) formally recognized nursing as integral and in 1982 the IMIA-Nursing Informatics Special Interest Group (IMIA/NI-SIG) was formed (Saba, 2001).  IMIA/NI-SIG holds conferences every 3 years with the mandate to promote informatics education, collaboration, and support of NI development (Saba, 2001).



  • 1980’s most Canadian hospitals had some form of computer information system for entering data (Kaminski, 2011).



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