Taiwan's Nursing Informatics community and sponsoring academic and organizational partners are very pleased to be able to welcome this Twelfth International Congress on Nursing Informatics, titled: East Meets West eSMART+. The Ni2014 Congress is being held in Taipei, Taiwan as an inaugural event for the nursing informatics communities in our Asia Pacific geographic region. The growing maturity of nursing informatics within our Asia Pacific region is reflected in the broad representation of presenters from across Asia and the breadth of subjects being reported. The Scientific Program has over 300 presentations as submitted papers, panel presentations, student papers, and poster sessions. The richness and expertise reflected in this program and these conference proceedings brings together the foremost international experts in our field, as well as a large number of student papers. The aim of this congress is to provide a single, high-profile, internationally renowned forum for research in the theory and practice of nursing informatics. Oh behalf of myself and the Congress Co-Chairs, Rung-Chuang Feng and Da-Wei Wang, we commend this congress to you with the goal that it follow in the footsteps of the eleven congresses that proceeded it. Historically, these congresses have been instrumental in the advancement of nursing informatics by providing an international forum for sharing of the latest research, methodologies, and technologies, and most importantly, the development of collaborations, study exchanges, and networks. We look forward to extending all of these important benefits into our nursing informatics communities across our Asia Pacific region, as well as our international members.

Both the NI2009 Congress hosted by Finland and Canada's NI2012 event successfully attracted over 600 participants. This year, the NI2014 in Taipei will also present the most up-to-dated scientific evidence through our comprehensive scientific program that focuses on mobile and web technologies with healthcare delivery applications, as well as core topics to our times that include: patient safety and quality, big data, information management, usability, meaningful use and educating for competencies. The topics addressed in these conference proceedings as well as the panels and Posters all fit the “eSmart+” theme of the 12th NI Congress:

• “e” stands for eHealth

• “S” implies simplicity

• “m” represents mobility

• “a” denotes advanced leadership

• “r” indicates revolution

• “t” means translational technologies

• “+” symbolizes People Leading uCare Safely.

The eSmart+ acronym is also used to convey the idea of adopting smart technology to help health providers deliver higher quality care.

All together, the NI2014 Congress consists of two keynote lectures, two plenary lectures, and more than 280 papers contributed by more than 300 delegates from over 30 countries. Special thanks are due at this stage to all the delegates, the members and referees of the Scientific Program committee, chaired by Nick Hardiker and Heimar Marin. The supports given by the members of the Organizing Committee chaired and Congress Committee are gratefully acknowledged. We would also like to acknowledge the Local Committees who worked behind the scenes to do all the detail work that made our Congress possible. The Chairs of these local committees are: Yen-Chiao Lu, Hui-Chu Yu, Ching-Chiu Kao and Hsien-Mei Yu. Thanks are also due to those individuals and organizations that have supported and assisted either financially or in other ways. To all of these supporters and teams, we say “Thank You” because you made a successful NI2014 possible.

Polun Chang

Congress and Organizing Committee Chair