According to the Nursing Act, a medical nurse is required to keep records of the performed procedures in the nursing documentation at all levels of health care. For most nursing positions in primary health care (PHC), the legal provisions stipulate medium level of education (secondary school level – SSL), which indicates on one hand, there is a legal obligation of nursing documentation and, on the other hand, there is insufficient educational capacity for certain work tasks. The aim of this study was to evaluate the current nursing situation in PHC from the perspective of educational structure and medical nurses' awareness of the importance of record keeping and nursing documentation, but also from the perspective of their attitudes and knowledge on nursing documentation in PHC in the era of informatization of the health care system. The study included PHC medical nurses employed in Bjelovar-Bilogora County Health Centre. Out of 100 medical nurses approached, 98 completed the study questionnaire, yielding a 98% response rate. Data analysis showed that educational level of PHC medical nurses was dominantly secondary school level (70 with SSL vs. 28 with college education). Informatics education level was low (7 respondents completed a course in informatics, and 9 had some training before starting their work with the nursing computer program/system in their practice), and 26.5% did not know which computer program they were using. Nurses with college degree were more aware of the importance of record keeping and nursing documentation in PHC than nurses with SSL only. The importance of nursing documentation in PHC was seen by medical nurses primarily in the legal protection (74.5%), legal obligation (70.4%), and establishing professional responsibility (71.4%), while 22.4% considered nursing documentation in PHC unnecessary. When assessing nursing documentation in PHC, medical nurses pointed out to an easier insight into the chronology of patient needs (79.6%) and more 'visible' actual work of nurses (74.5%), while 32.7% did not consider that nursing documentation would improve the quality of work in the nursing practice. Nurses with SSL assessed more positively the purposefulness of electronic nursing documentation for direct practice (direct work with patients, quality assessment, easier work for nurses), and nurses with college degree through the system and profession (reorganization of the health care system, and promotion of nursing profession as a research discipline). Results of this study indicate the following: it is necessary to harmonize the legal provisions (Is SSL education enough for work in PHC?) with the education of medical nurses (on nursing documentation already at secondary school level – importance, record keeping, purposefulness/usefulness). Training in informatics should be part of the nursing education. Before starting to use a nursing computer program/system, the nurses should be adequately made familiar with the program – its usage and scope; and they should be involved in the development and upgrading of programs to suit the nursing needs in PHC.