The Finnish Nurses Association is pleased to host this major event in health informatics, the 10th International Congress on Nursing Informatics, NI2009, entitled Connecting Health and Humans. This special event, which has been held every three years since 1982 in collaboration with the International Medical Informatics Association Nursing Informatics Special Group (IMIA-SIG NI), advances nursing and nursing informatics by bringing together experts from all over the world to share their knowledge and skills.

It is particularly auspicious that the 2009 gathering occurs in Helsinki. The host country Finland is well known for advances in mobile information technology as well as eagerness among citizens to access the internet. The current development of a national health information system will also serve as a basis for active information exchange among conference participants.

Following the western continental bloc represented by Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2003) and Seoul, South Korea (2006) from the eastern, the meeting in Finland offers an opportunity to better and more easily engage Europeans to participate and share their experiences and knowledge with colleagues from around the world.

The theme for the conference, Nursing Informatics – Connecting Health and Humans, reflects not only the importance of European Union eHealth initiatives but also highlights global activities to strengthen the role of consumers in health information management. Finnish health care authorities, like those in many other countries, are committed to putting in place strategies that in the near future will permit citizens to access their health data stored in health records and national data archives. This conference will offer significant guidance to governments, while also deliberating issues important to citizens such as privacy, ethics, and education.

The Scientific Programme Committee received in all more than 400 submissions. Each submission was evaluated by at least two reviewers selected from the panel of more than 80 experts. The SPC selected 130 papers and 120 posters for presentation during the conference. The conference programme follows ten themes: Clinical Workflow and Human Interface; Consumer Health Informatics and Personal Health Records; Health Information Technology; Terminology, Standards and NMDS's; Patient Preferences and Quality of Care; Patient Safety; Evidence Based Practice and Decision Support; Consumer and Professional Education; Strategies and Methods for Training and National eHealth Initiatives across the Globe. All in all the presenters represent more than 35 countries. Thus each theme will have a wide scope of discussions in the sessions.

The result of the SPC activity is reflected in the proceedings and the Conference programme. The printed version of the proceedings has sufficient space to permit printing of papers and posters. The full contents of the conference, including panel, workshops and scientific demos, are included in the electronic version of the proceedings. The Congress Proceedings will be indexed in MEDLINE, and thereby be accessible world wide on the web.

NI-congresses have been important and unforgettable events. We also hope that these proceedings will disseminate the knowledge and experiences presented at the congress long after the oral presentations.

We would like to thank all those who have made the printed volume and the electronic version possible, especially the authors, the Scientific Programme Committee, the Organizing Committee, the reviewers as well as Sami Suominen in the Finnish Nurses Association, Virpi Jylhä from Kuopio University and Jussi Saari from the Blue and White Congrex Management.

Kaija Saranto, Patricia Flatley Brennan, Hyeoun-Ae Park, Marianne Tallberg, Anneli Ensio