The role of nurse informaticists in the emerging field of clinical intelligence.

Clinical intelligence (CI) is an emerging field in health care arising from the proliferation of electronic data being generated through the increasing use of healthcare information technology (HIT). It is defined as the electronic aggregation of accurate, relevant and timely data into meaningful information and actionable knowledge in order to achieve optimal healthcare structures, processes and outcomes. Clinical intelligence will dramatically change the discipline of nursing informatics in the future. This presentation describes the role of nurse informaticists (NI) today in building clinical intelligence, including communicating the vision, designing systems, educating clinicians, preparing themselves, and supporting research.