According to the American Nurses Association (ANA, 2015), nurses – regardless of their specialty or area of practice – protect, promote, and optimize health of individuals and communities. Informatics nurses contribute to the provision of safe patient care as well as the job satisfaction of the staff they support by optimizing the use of technology. This series will provide real-life examples of informatics projects utilizing the ANA Scope and Standards of Practice (2015) for nursing informatics and other tools as a guide in daily practice. This piece provides a general introduction to the general concepts of nursing informatics.