The Alliance for Nursing Informatics (ANI) is a collaboration of organizations that represent a unified voice for nursing informatics whose mission focuses on providing a single point of connection among nursing informatics individuals and groups and the broader nursing and healthcare community.1 Collective efforts of nursing informatics organizations and, more important, the collective efforts of individual nurses who are members of the nursing informatics organizations, when assimilated into a united voice, maximize the impact on professional activities, such as developing nursing informatics guidelines for practice, sharing career opportunities, leading public policy direction, and driving education and research initiatives. The efforts of individual ANI members, when combined into a collaborative entity, provide the synergy and structure needed to advance the efforts of nursing informatics professionals in improving the delivery of patient care. To achieve the ANI vision and to maximize individual member efforts, a strategic plan that clearly defines goals, activities to support the goals, and ownership for the various goals among the membership organizations is needed. Late last year, the ANI embarked upon such an initiative to define a strategic plan for 2006 and 2007. This article reviews the key highlights of the strategic plan. The time has come for nurses working in various informatics roles to participate in the successful execution of the ANI strategic plan to accelerate nursing informatics progression in the areas of public policy, education, and professional practice.
THE ALLIANCE FOR NURSING INFORMATICS
The Alliance for Nursing Informatics is a collaboration of organizations that represent a unified voice for nursing informatics. The alliance represents more than 3000 nurses and brings together 20 distinct nursing informatics groups in the United States that function separately at local, regional, national, and international levels and have established programs, publications, and organizational structures for their members. ANI provides the synergy and structure needed to advance the efforts of nursing informatics professionals in improving the delivery of patient care. The ANI Governing Directors consists of representatives of organizational groups that have a nursing informatics focus and will guide the strategic goals and activities of the alliance throughout the year. The alliance is dedicated to fostering the further development of a united voice for nursing informatics; providing a single point of connection among nursing informatics groups and the broader nursing and healthcare community; providing a mechanism for transforming care; developing resources for nursing informatics practice, public policy, research, networking, and career services; and supporting individual membership in the affiliated nursing informatics organizations.
THE STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS
Having clearly defined strategic goals is critical to achieving the ANI mission to advance the efforts of nursing informatics professionals in improving the delivery of patient care. To this extent, the ANI embarked upon an effort to develop strategic goals for 2006 and 2007 based on the vision and mission of the ANI. Development of the strategic plan included the following processes:
analysis of nursing informatics initiatives underway outside of the ANI and discussion on how it might effect the organization (external analysis)
review of the ANI s mission, vision, and values (internal analysis)
development of goals to accomplish over the next 2 years or so, as a result of the external and internal analysis
identification of how the goals will be reached (strategies, objectives, responsibilities, and timelines)
review of the strategic goals with the ANI Governance Board, steering committee, and members for additional input and validation
The ANI membership was engaged to define strategies for each goal as well as an action plan, defining specific activities with ownership for completion and targeted dates to achieve the goals. Each member organization sent the strategic plan to its respective membership to prioritize the goals for 2006 and 2007. Currently, ANI is reaching out to membership groups and individuals for active involvement in taking ownership for specific goals.
The development of this strategic plan accomplishes two major objectives. It sets forth ANI's intentions for 2006 and 2007 in a straightforward manner with clearly articulated and measurable goals. It also prioritizes goals that will promote and enhance nursing informatics professional practice and charts the course that the ANI intends to pursue in the next 2 years. In defining the goals, specific attention was given to the "practice" side of nursing informatics, such as developing nursing informatics guidelines for practice, sharing career opportunities, leading public policy direction, and driving education and research initiatives, in all healthcare settings spanning the continuum of healthcare. The strategic plan was refined with input and validation from ANI representation, which includes 3000 nurses and 20 distinct nursing informatics groups in the United States.
THE STRATEGIC PLAN
Four overarching priority areas provide the framework for the strategic goals for the next 2 years. They include the following: (1) an increase in communication channels internally within nursing informatics and a tremendous push to expand links beyond nursing and informatics, both locally and nationally; (2) the development of additional forums for education, specifically for sharing expertise among nurses who practice informatics in various roles in a broad range of healthcare settings; (3) development of a plan to increase nursing leadership, involvement, and awareness in a public policy setting; and (4) the development of a program to enhance nursing informatics professional practice, specifically targeting nurses in work in a multitude of settings deploying technology solutions. This goal targets nurses working in informatics roles directly related to the development, deployment, and use of technology integrated with reengineered processes at the point of care.
IMPORTANCE FOR EACH NURSE
The activities and timetables setting forth how the members of ANI would proceed through the year 2007 are perhaps of greatest interest for nurses. The activities contained concrete examples showing how all nurses can get involved in promoting and enhancing nursing informatics professional practice through communication, education, public policy, and research. In reviewing the ANI strategic plan, bear in mind the footnote: "The success of these strategic goals is dependent on the involvement of nurses at all levels within nursing informatics."
Essentially, the strategic goals were created and are supported by nurses representing all facets of nursing informatics practice. Moving forward to achieve these goals is the shared responsibility of every member represented by the ANI. The collective efforts of individual members will enable us to foster further development of a united voice for nursing informatics and provide a single point of connection among nursing informatics individuals and groups and the broader nursing and healthcare community.
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