Joanne (Jo) Foster

Lecturer, Queensland University of Technology,

Brisbane, Australia

I first got into computers in the early 80’s when I worked in a renal dialysis unit at a major public hospital in Brisbane, QLD, Australia, when we started to data entry patient information for admission and discharge on a computer. As an outpatient unit the nursing staff could do this on evenings and weekends when no administration staff were available. I was always technically minded even in dialysis as I was always wanting to use and see how new machines worked and would always be the first one to volunteer to use and trial these as well as question the sales representatives on all aspects. I even remember when I was a child living on a dairy farm that I was always interested in how things worked from the anatomical side of animals to the technological side such as artificial insemination. Curiosity was and is always a big component of life for me.

Following purchase of a personal computer in the late 80’s and a laptop in the early 90’s I was passionate about computer technology. I undertook many short courses on computing so I could understand how they worked and to be able to fix and or build computers. This resonated back to my days as a child and renal nurse and the machines we used and my interest in the technology side of how things worked.

I attended the International Nursing Informatics Congress in Melbourne, Australia in 1991 and was passionate about informatics from then on as I could see how it could enhance nursing practice, healthcare and consumer outcomes. From this time I pushed for changes to healthcare and nursing practice based on Health Information Technology and informatics from a national and international perspective.

I started to attend MedInfo and Nursing Informatics Conferences nationally and internationally and started to build my knowledge, skills and expertise in the area. Publishing articles, meeting with National leaders and being invited to attend and present Nursing Informatics at local and national conferences followed quickly. A National Nursing Informatics Council was convened and I was an original member of this Council in 1991. This Council went through much iteration over the years and is now known as Nursing Informatics Australia (NIA) and I am still an executive member.

Since my move to the higher education sector as an academic/researcher I have been passionate about being involved in the changes to education and healthcare reform based on health and nursing informatics. This included many developments for teaching and learning with the use of technology. As with many countries Australia has been slow on the uptake of health and nursing informatics to promote quality efficient consumer healthcare. It has at times been a very frustrating journey, however, I have remained passionate and pushing for change at a local and national level. Involvement at local, national and international levels has offered me the opportunity to meet and work with many talented, professional and passionate health and nursing informaticians from around the world and to build and share knowledge and skills with other like-minded informatics professionals. My role and ability as an academic to have impact on our future nurse leaders about health information technology and informatics has been a highlight over the years and continues unabated.

My expertise, knowledge and skills in health and nursing informatics have enabled me to have a voice in change and development both nationally and internationally.

One aspect I am very proud of has been the development of the National Nursing Informatics Standards for Australia which will be articulated in the new Registered Nurse Standards for all Australian Nurses. Regardless of the road blocks and frustrations I still have faith that one day healthcare information systems will meet the demand of healthcare consumers and provide the appropriate point of care access to health data and information for both health consumer and health professional to ensure quality effective healthcare outcomes.