This discussion focuses on the importance of nursing intelligence to the organisation, and the nurses' role in gathering and utilising such intelligence. Deliberations with professional colleagues suggest that intelligence can only be utilised fully when the information systems are developed in such a way as to meet the needs of the people who manage and provide nursing care at the consumer level; that is, the activity of nursing itself. If accommodation is made for the recycling of nursing intelligence, there would be a support and furtherance of ‘professional’ intelligence. Two main issues emerge:

- how can nurses support the needs of management to optimise intelligence input?

- how can organisations optimise the contribution of nurses to its information processes and interpretation of intelligence?

The expansion of this ‘professional’ intelligence would promote a generation of constantly reviewed data, offering a quality approach to nursing activities and an organisation's intelligence system.