Preparing to work in an informatics-based world.

growing number of clinical experiences place students in settings with electronic health records (EHRs). The nursing work world expects graduates to be proficient with informatics as part of nursing practice. This may not be easy because there is a substantive gap between the national health reform efforts and the attempt of nursing programs to engage students in expanding work practices. Although nursing informatics competencies have been defined by several organizations, the introduction of these competencies into nursing education has been slow (The TIGER Initiative, 2008). This is due to such factors as finances, faculty shortages, and limited training and education in the informatics field.