The Americas: Overview of EHR National Strategies and Significance for Nursing

Introduction The global impact of national electronic health record (EHR) initiatives has yet to be realized. However, there is growing evidence that the world economy, populations’ access to technology, and the worldwide call for reform of healthcare systems demand the expedited adoption of EHRs. These EHRs must focus on enabling increased access to care, supporting people-centric service, and facilitating the delivery of state-of-the-science evidence-based care. National and international standards and informatics organizations, e.g., Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), and International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA), are crucial for leveraging informatics knowledge and supporting informatics competencies for the population in general, and particularly, educators, researchers, and administrators, and healthcare providers. This chapter is an overview of the state of the science for nursing and EHR initiatives across the Americas. Capturing the succinct synopsis of the state of EHR adoption is a daunting task, given the diversity and variation across this massive geographic area. This overview highlights a sampling from Canada, the United States, Latin America, and South America, rather than attempting an in-depth description of the status of EHRs in all countries in this geography. Eight case studies follow this overview. Significant exemplars represent North America (Canada, US); Latin America (Cuba); and South America (Argentina, Brazil, and Chile).