In 1994, the ANA modified their definition in an
effort to legitimize the specialty and guide efforts to
create a certification examination:
Nursing informatics is the specialty that integrates
nursing science, computer science, and information
science in identifying, collecting, processing, and
managing data and information to support nursing
practice, administration, education, research, and
expansion of nursing knowledge. It supports the
practice of all nursing specialties, in all sites and set-
tings, whether at the basic or advanced level. The
practice includes the development of applications,
tools, processes, and structures that assist nurses
with the management of data in taking care of
patients or in supporting their practice of nursing.32
Although the 1994 ANA definition continued to pro-
vide information on the role of the informatics nurse
specialist, the concepts from the systems life cycle
were replaced with a more generic discussion of the
role of the informatics nurse specialist.