IT in Clinical IT has touched many areas of the medical field. Informatics has improved the field by "helping people review and rethink their information management and knowledge management skills and learn new ways to use clinical data to manage clinical practice and patient care” (McLane and Turley, 2011). The aim of this article is to explore informatics in streamlining paperwork, providing decision support tools and examining the contribution made to patient safety. IT Streamlines Paperwork and Communication IT has streamlined paperwork by placing information in a centralized location. Informatics offers many opportunities to improve patient care. The introduction of electronic medical records (EMR) provides a central source of information for locating and capturing patient information. The accessibility of information created by IT makes the information easily accessible to the healthcare team. Electronic Medical RecordEMR has not only streamlined paperwork, but created a social network for everyone involved in patient care. The EMR has demonstrated “improved accuracy, readability, timeliness, and completeness of documentation” (Lyden, 2008, p. 14). Having all the information in a centralized, readable way allows nurses or others caring for the patient to be able to expedite the services needed to improve patient outcomes. As Hedba and Czar (2009) stated, six qualities are necessary to have a successful EMR: “fast, familiar, flexible, improves workflow, improves documentation, and meets regulatory requirements” (p. 303). Each of these components improves accessibility for the healthcare team in terms of overall productivity, patient outcomes, and communication....... middle of article....../datamining .pdf?src=cii20110110Longo, DR, Hewett, JE, Ge, B., & Schubert, S. (2005). The long road to patient safety: status report on patient safety systems. JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Association, 294(22), 2858-2865.McLane, S. and Turley, JP (2011). IT Professionals: How They Can Benefit Your Healthcare Organization. Journal of Nursing Administration, 41(1), 29-35. doi:10.1097/NNA.0b013e3181fc19d6Pagliari, C., Detmer, D., & Singleton, P. (2007). Potential of electronic personal health records. BMJ: British Medical Journal (international edition), 335(7615), 330-333. doi:10.1136/bmj.39279.482963.adWilson, J., Oyen, L., Ou, N., McMahon, M., Thompson, R., Manahan, J. and ... Estes, L. (2005). Hospital rules-based system: the next generation of medical IT for patient safety. American Journal of Health System Pharmacy, 62(5), 499-505.