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: