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Summary: Health care and health information have been around since the time of Hippocrates or even before. Through the historical evolution, it is observed that the knowledge and information that were simple and easy to learn and retain by that time, became much more complex. This paper presents a brief reviewing on the evolution of MEDINFO conferences, and how nursing informatics grew up and made itself visible during all these years of IMIA conferences. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The objective of this paper is to consider the recommendations and expectations of the IMIA WG10 working conferences at Nijmegen (1988) and Go¨ttingen (1991) from the present perspective. The methods: the original task description of WG10 is considered and the main items during the Nijmegen and Gottingen working conferences are addressed. The design and use of a HIS are compared by those for a ship. The results: the tasks of WG10 have only partially been completed. However, for several items significant progress has been made. The conclusions: the recommendations of the earlier conferences are to a large extent still valid. A scientific foundation for HIS development has not yet been created, in this respect HIS design and development compares unfavourably with shipbuilding. The choice has to be made: either we consider HIS development as an art or we give priority to the development of a Science of Health Information Processing (SHIP) to found the HIS development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]