Nurses assimilate, synthesize, and produce information to convey a message, sharing it via selected delivery methods. They engage in an iterative process of researching, creating, revising, and disseminating information. The products they create reflect this iterative process.
Nurses use and create various information sources for their education, practice, and research. They encounter information in multiple formats, including datasets, metrics, peer-reviewed publications, point of care tools, policies and procedures, stakeholder interviews, practice guidelines, and more. While engaging with information, nurses examine the processes underlying information creation to evaluate authority and usefulness and to check for biases. Information use and creation may occur within various care settings, including inpatient or outpatient, rural or urban, in-person or virtual, and local or national or global, each of which may influence the information creation process.
Entry-level nurses have a foundational knowledge of how information is created, including study design and publication types. They are aware that research studies are often designed within institutional contexts that can exclude marginalized voices. Entry-level nurses typically create information influencing healthcare delivery at the patient or unit level. They identify questions or problems, search relevant sources, gather best evidence, and synthesize information to address outstanding needs. They create and disseminate messages through various information products, such as care plans, medical records, patient education materials, policies and procedures, healthcare interventions, and scholarship. Entry-level nurses acknowledge that information creation processes must evolve over time due to changes in settings, policies, technologies, and other external influences and they recognize the need to continue developing their expertise.
Advanced-level nurses intentionally seek out information representing all communities they serve, especially those marginalized by ethnicity, race, social class, and historically adverse relationships with the healthcare establishment. They create information influencing healthcare delivery at all levels, engage in quality improvement processes, and seek new information created and disseminated by nurse scholars and researchers from other disciplines. They also synthesize or translate evidence for nurses of all educational levels, other healthcare professionals, patients, and external stakeholders.
Nurses developing their IL abilities can:
Nurses assimilate, synthesize and produce information to convey a message, which they share via a selected delivery method. Nurses engage in an iterative process of researching, creating, revising, and disseminating information. The products they create reflect this iterative process.
Nurses use and create a variety of information sources for their education, practice, and research. Both entry-level and advanced-level nurses encounter information from various sources in multiple formats, including datasets and metrics, peer-reviewed publications, point-of-care tools, policies and procedures, stakeholder interviews, practice guidelines, and more. While engaging with information, nurses examine the processes underlying the information creation to evaluate its authority and usefulness and to check for biases. Information use and creation may occur within a variety of care settings, including inpatient or outpatient; rural or urban; in-person or virtual; and local or national or global, each of which may influence the information creation process.
Entry level nurses typically create information that influences health care delivery at the patient level or unit level. They identify questions or problems, search relevant sources, gather best evidence and synthesize information to respond to the outstanding needs. They create and disseminate messages through a variety of information products: care plans, patient education materials, policies, healthcare interventions, action plans, scholarship, and strategies. Nurses acknowledge that information creation processes must evolve over time due to changes in settings, policies, technologies, and other external influences and they must continue to develop their expertise.
Advanced level nurses create information that influences health care delivery at all levels. They engage in quality improvement processes to develop and assess practice changes over time. As part of lifelong learning, they seek new information created and disseminated by nurse scholars and researchers from other disciplines. Advanced level nurses also synthesize or translate evidence for nurses of all educational levels, other health care professionals, patients, and external stakeholders.
Evidence of the Frame in Action
Competencies
Nurses who are developing their information literacy abilities: