NI 2000  (The 7th International Congress of Nursing Informatics) A personal review by Rod Ward 28 APRIL - 3 MAY, 2000     AOTEA Centre  AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND

Day 1 - Sunday 30th April

The conference opened with a large welcome session and keynote speaker.
The  start included some recruitment videos for the conference and some opening statistics;

• there are over 400 delegates from 28 countries
• 190 submissions were received
• There will be/have been;
• 18 pre congress tutorials
• 6 keynote presentations
• 6 panels
• 93 papers
• 90 poster presentations
• 6 demonstrations

This was followed by a group of Maori drummers and then a key note paper by Dr Ed Hammond from Duke University, who spoke on "Patient records; yesterday, today & tomorrow" setting out the developments between 1935 and today, covering the needs for standards in health data and the purposes of the computerised record. Several universal issues were raised but the language (acronyms) and examples were very much based on North American health care systems. His  conclusions were that we were solving the wrong problems and needed to challenge the usefulness of the electronic health record.

This was followed by several other short speeches and announcements including the launch of a new book by Maureen Scholes "International Nursing Informatics: A history of the first forty years 1960-2000" Maureen was then presented with life membership of the British Computer Society Nursing Specialist Group and a scroll in recognition of her work in the field.

The delegates were then bussed to the Auckland museum for a welcome reception. After considerable waiting around the group was met with a traditional Maori greeting/challenge, before we were admitted to the museum where the was an opportunity to discuss informally  a wide range of issues over drinks (and visit the museum). This was useful for me as it enabled me to meet face to  face many of the people I have known "virtually" for some years. The setting and discussion was interesting although the promised food was limited.

Contents:

Introduction

• Pre Congress Tutorials
• Day 1 - papers & activities
• Day 2 - papers & activities
• Day 3 - papers & activities
• Day 4 - papers & activities

Comments of others
Travel, Social Activities, Accommodation etc.
General thoughts, Themes and Comments