Nursing Knowledge Workers

Nurses as Knowledge Workers Knowledge workers are clinical scholars, expected to adapt and drive new and evolving technologies in the health care system. With the advancement from the industrial to the information age and the development of new technological inventions to support quality of care and outcomes, nurses are constantly expected to advance their knowledge, techniques, skills, and education. Nurses as knowledge workers actively combine routine (e.g., obtaining vital signs, medication administration) and non-routine work involving analysis, critical thinking, decision-making, collaboration, clinical reasoning and judgment. As clinical scholars, nurses are excellent at innovation because they understand change is inevitable and

Nursing in the 20th century emphasized on educating nurses to act, (i.e. the traditional ‘doer’ roles) that required implementation of interventions and procedures based on company policy and regulation. However, with the advent of 21st century’s technological revolution, nursing has evolved in complexity requiring nurses to function in a multidimensional and multifocal environment necessitating coordination of care on varied levels and fields (e.g., social, clinical, technical). Contemporary nurses are viewed as innovative change agents, effective learners, proficient in using multiple intelligences and maintaining a current mobile skill set that is technologically advanced. Therefore, nurses as trained knowledge workers synthesize a broad array of innovative information and knowledge from various disciplines to provide guidance, expert knowledge, and decision-making for novice, intermediate, and competent nurses in both routine and non routine roles, to accelerate the process of change and implementation of evidence-based

(2016). Differences in innovative behavior among hospital-based registered nurses. Journal of Nursing Administration, 46(3), pp 122- 127. doi: 10.1097/NNA.0000000000000310

Matney,A.S., Maddox,J.L., & Staggers,N. (2014). Nurses as knowledge workers: Is there evidence of knowledge in patient handoffs? Western Journal of Nursing Research, 36(2), pp.171-190. doi: 10.1177/0193945913497111

Simpson,L.R. (2012). Technology enables value-based nursing care. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 36(1), pp.85-87. doi: 10.1097/NAQ.0b013e318237b7b4

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.(2016). Healthy People 2020. Retrieved from http://www.healthypeople.gov