They are not. Although these terms are related, they are not interchangeable. Health (healthcare) informatics is defined as “the study and application of computers to assist the gathering storage, processing and use of information to improve the procedures or outcomes of healthcare services” (Sullivan, F. 2001). Electronic Medical Records (EMR’s) are a great example of healthcare informatics. The nurse, at that juncture, will utilize the information gathered on the EMR to determine the direction of care for his/her patient, this process is called nursing informatics. I would venture to say that all nurses are using some form of nursing informatics but the degree of usage may vary dependent on many factors, namely, the nurses comfort level with computers. I took the “Pretest Toward Computers in Healthcare (PATCH) Assessment Scale, version 3,” (Kaminski, J.). I scored 92.0, a reasonably good score, but I would have projected a higher score because of my background in Tele-Medicine. I have spent the last 10 years in Tele-Medicine, so it would be a safe assumption that I am computer and/or technology savvy and fluent with multiple platforms. That holds true to a point, but the fact that technology is constantly evolving keeps us all somewhat behind the bubble since computer science is not our primary focus. Nursing Informatics Competencies Paper