European standardization in healthcare informatics and the need for increased involvement of healthcare professionals

This paper gives the background and an introduction to the results and present activities of CEN/TC 251 (European Standardization Committee, Technical Committee on Health Care Informatics). The importance of the involvement of healthcare professionals, e.g. nurses in the standardization development process is stressed. The paper emphasises the need for increased awareness of the standardization efforts in order to accomplish a higher degree of commitment in healthcare professionals.