NURS-6051N Week 2: Assignment The Nurse Leader as Knowledge Worker

• Knowledge worker are highly-skilled and knowledgeable professions.
• Nurses as knowledge work agents.
• The nurse leader as knowledge worker.
• Recent years have witnessed a significant rise in nursing knowledge work.
• Nurse knowledge workers operate in complex healthcare systems.

Originally coined by Peter Drucker, the term ‘knowledge worker’ has been broadly used to describe highly-skilled individuals with specialized knowledge and abilities to carry out their specific professional responsibilities and roles (Drucker, 1959). Sherringham and Unhelkar (2020) argued that nurse leaders need to have the appropriate combination of skills, experiences, abilities, and knowledge that sets them apart from other professionals and allows them to fulfill the role of a knowledge worker. Given the increasing complexity in modern healthcare systems, the role of nurses as knowledge workers is strengthened by the growing utilization of information technologies, precision medicine, nursing informatics, and other advanced systems in mainstream healthcare settings (Zareshahi et al., 2022). Consequently, nurses are increasingly recognized as frontline healthcare workers actively engaged in nursing informatics and other related medical fields, solidifying their prominent position as knowledge workers.

Nursing Informatics

• Nursing Informatics is a speciality concerned the application of IT in the nursing roles including nursing practice, education and management.
• Nursing informatics is a high-level technical role.
• Nurse Informaticist assumes and integral role in producing, defining, evaluating and sharing information, data and knowledge in nursing practice.
• NURS-6051N Week 2: Assignment THE NURSE LEADER AS KNOWLEDGE WORKER

As per the American Nurses Association’s explanation, nursing informatics involves blending nursing knowledge with various information and analytical sciences to recognize, define, handle, and share data, knowledge, information, and wisdom in nursing practice (Anderson et al., 2018). This description acknowledges the crucial role of nursing informatics in enhancing healthcare quality and safety, as well as in enhancing patient care results by employing relevant technology and related systems. Zareshahi et al. (2022) emphasized that nursing informatics is a rapidly expanding area, requiring nurses to have a variety of specific abilities (such as collecting data, utilizing data, generating knowledge, and applying knowledge) to establish themselves as capable knowledge workers. Anderson et al. (2018) also noted that nursing informatics serves as a significant source of knowledge for nurses, thus healthcare professionals in the nursing sector must recognize and explore methods for incorporating healthcare technologies and systems to support the shift toward evidence-based decision-making.

The Nurse leader/Manager as a Knowledge Worker

• Nursing as a specialised field that required advanced knowledge and skills obtained through formal education.
• Nurses utilise information technologies and nursing informatics as a source of knowledge.
• Nurses collaborate with other healthcare practitioners in inter-professional teams.
• Nurses use their clinical knowledge to conduct patient diagnosis and treatment.
• Nurses use their specialised skills and competencies to identify and respond to patient care needs and health-related needs.

Nurses who are also knowledge workers have increasingly taken up managerial and leadership roles across diverse healthcare settings. Kumari (2019) explained that nurse informaticists function within interdisciplinary teams, and therefore, the challenging and intricate work environment necessitates them to step into significant leadership positions. As knowledge workers, nurses’ capacity to act as leaders is driven by the growing necessity to find effective solutions to the progressively complex demands and requirements encountered in their various work environments. Duffey (2017) contended that nurse leaders should utilize their clinical knowledge and expertise to fulfill their designated roles and duties by establishing systems, practices, structures, policies, and environments aimed at influencing employees’ motivation, capability, and opportunity for knowledge work within the healthcare workplace.

• The role of a Nurse leader as knowledge worker
• Nurses as Knowledge Workers

vNursing informaticist integrates their clinical knowledge with IT skills, data and technologies.

v Nurse informaticist utilizes data to enhance patient safety and care.

vEHR  Implementation

vInformation literacy

vData Collection and Analysis

vCare Coordination

vPopulation Health Initiatives

As knowledge workers, nurse leaders must possess a specific set of characteristics. Duffey (2017) pointed out that nurse leaders should exhibit and apply solid empirical and conceptual knowledge and competencies gained through formal nursing education. Similarly, nurse leaders should also demonstrate sufficient capability in managing information to recognize, gather, analyze, apply, and distribute data, information, and knowledge from various sources (Lunden et al., 2017). Furthermore, nurse leaders should showcase a refined ability to use clinical judgment and analytical reasoning to transform complex data and information into evidence-based practices (Ward & Kozakowski, n.d.). Additionally, the role of nurse leaders as knowledge workers is reinforced by their responsibilities as communicators, problem-solvers, and decision-makers in today’s increasingly intricate and uncertain healthcare environments (Sherman, 2022). These findings underscore the notion that the role of nurse leaders as knowledge workers necessitates their active involvement in activities such as electronic health record (EHR) implementation, data collection and analysis, care coordination, and population health initiatives, among others.

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• Hypothetical Scenario

Nursing Informatics for the modern ICT:

• Informatics solutions can help control and prevent hospital-acquired infections (HAIs)
• HAIs are a serious healthcare problem that can be tackled using informatics solutions.
• Intensive care unit nurses must learn informatics skills and other related software and hardware applications.
• Involvement of nurses in documentation optimization
• Nurses must possess a range of skills and knowledge related to the use of nursing informatics systems, computer skills, web search methods, nursing databases, and other nursing informatics competencies (Zareshahi et al., 2022).

REFERENCES

• Anderson, D. C., Jackson, A. A., & Halpern, N. A. (2018). Informatics for the modern intensive care unit. Critical Care Nursing Quarterly, 41(1), 60-67. https://doi.org/10.1097/cnq.0000000000000186
• Drucker, P. (1959). The landmarks of tomorrow. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.
• Duffey, P. (2017). Implementing the clinical nurse leader role in a large hospital network. Nurse Leader, 15(4), 276-280. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mnl.2017.03.014
• Kumari, R. (2019). The impact of informatics on nursing education and promoting quality of health care. International Journal of Advances in Nursing Management, 7(3), 285. https://doi.org/10.5958/2454-2652.2019.00067.2
• Lunden, A., Teräs, M., Kvist, T., & Häggman-Laitila, A. (2017). A systematic review of factors influencing knowledge management and the nurse leaders’ role. Journal of Nursing Management, 25(6), 407-420. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.12478

References

• Sherman, R. O. (2022). Supporting our nurse managers. Nurse Leader. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mnl.2022.11.005
• Sherringham, K., & Unhelkar, B. (2020). Knowledge worker services transformation. Crafting and Shaping Knowledge Worker Services in the Information Economy, 447-472. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1224-7_12
• Ward, S. F., & Kozakowski, J. L. (n.d.). The nurse as the knowledge worker. AORN Journal, 46(5), 896-903. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0001-2092(07)67412-2
• Zareshahi, M., Mirzaei, S., & Nasiriani, K. (2022). Nursing informatics competencies in critical care unit. Health Informatics Journal, 28(1), 146045822210838. https://doi.org/10.1177/14604582221083843

Other sources

Image 1: Handzel, S. (2022).Supporting nurse informatics leadership development. https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/expert-insights/supporting-nurse-informatics-leadership-development

Image 3: Pronsawatchai, P. (2018).Promoting the New Role of Nursing Informatics Professional in Thailand. https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Promoting-the-New-Role-of-Nursing-Informatics-in-Pronsawatchai-Auefuea/f2fc5b30004d04b6d6e44d249e44567a27b7645d

Image 2 and 4: Ivy, P. (2022).Nurse Leader as a Knowledge Worker Presentation. https://ivypanda.com/essays/nurse-leader-as-a-knowledge-worker/

THE NURSE LEADER AS KNOWLEDGE WORKER

The term “knowledge worker” was originally introduced by management consultant and author Peter Drucker in his book, “The Landmarks of Tomorrow” (1959). Drucker described knowledge workers as high-level individuals who utilize theoretical and analytical knowledge, obtained through formal training, to create products and services. This concept might sound familiar.

Nurses are indeed considered knowledge workers. However, what has changed since Drucker’s time is the methods through which knowledge can be acquired. The amount of data that can now be generated and the tools used to access this data have advanced significantly in recent years. These advancements have empowered healthcare professionals, including nurses, to take on the role of knowledge workers in new and impactful ways.

NURS-6051N Week 2: Assignment THE NURSE LEADER AS KNOWLEDGE WORKER.

In this Assignment, you will consider the evolving role of the nurse leader and how this evolution has led nurse leaders to assume the role of knowledge worker. You will prepare a PowerPoint presentation with an infographic (graphic that visually represents information, data, or knowledge. Infographics are intended to present information quickly and clearly.) to educate others on the role of nurse as knowledge worker.

Reference: Drucker, P. (1959). The landmarks of tomorrow. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.

To Prepare:

• Review the concepts of informatics as presented in the Resources.
• Reflect on the role of a nurse leader as a knowledge worker.
• Consider how knowledge may be informed by data that is collected/accessed.

The Assignment:

• Explain the concept of a knowledge worker.
• Define and explain nursing informatics and highlight the role of a nurse leader as a knowledge worker.
• Include one slide that visually represents the role of a nurse leader as knowledge worker.
• Your PowerPoint should Include the hypothetical scenario you originally shared in the Discussion Forum. Include your examination of the data that you could use, how the data might be accessed/collected, and what knowledge might be derived from that data. Be sure to incorporate feedback received from your colleagues’ responses.

BY DAY 7 OF WEEK 2

Submit your completed Presentation.

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