Nurses play vital role in EHR design and informatics For some, the advent of electronic health records (EHRs) is no secret. EHRs support clinical decision making, improve patient documentation and enhance patient safety through accuracy and error detection. Though in their relative infancy, EHRs are part of a growing healthcare field known as Nursing Informatics, a blossoming center of study focused on the research and development of best practices in the use of EHRs by healthcare staffing agencies will soon begin pursuing nursing informatics professionals as the profession matures and demand for the skill increases among healthcare employers. Nursing informatics programs are already underway at major universities and, with healthcare technology at the forefront of patient care, hospitals and outpatient centers will soon be on the lookout for nursing candidates fluent in informatics. While in the past, information technology experts were typically the ones who designed software for utilization in clinical settings, IT professionals often possess limited knowledge of work processes in the perioperative environment, leaving nurses best suited for EHR system design and processes development. A healthcare career in nursing informatics is ideal for RNs looking for less patient contact - the discipline is centered [+]