Читать книгу Kelly Vana's Nursing Leadership and Management - Группа авторов - Страница 47

Nurses are knowledge workers. Knowledge workers are those who bring specialized, expert knowledge to an organization (Drucker, 2006, 1993, 1959). They are valued for what they know. Knowledge organizations, in which the knowledge worker is at the front lines with the expertise and the information to act, have become the dominant organizational type in the information age (Drucker, 2006, 1993; Helgesen, 1995). The knowledge organization shares, provides, and grows the information necessary to work efficiently and effectively. In organizations such as these, the ideas of leadership at the top and leadership equated with the power of a position are obsolete notions. Knowledge workers with the expertise and information to act are the organization's leaders. They provide the service, interact with the customer, represent the organization, and accomplish its goals.

Knowledge workers work in the information age, where the rapid, instant access to information makes information the medium of exchange. Knowledge workers are valued for what they know. The development of new knowledge and innovation and meaningful interpretation and application becomes the source for transactions with patients and staff. Nursing's transition to the information age has occurred in the context of rapidly advancing technology and nanotechnology and been influenced by three key trends: mobility, virtuality, and user‐driven practices (Porter O'Grady, 2001).

Mobility refers to the ability to do work in convenient places using telehealth rather than working at fixed places, which may or may not be convenient. Technology has enabled mobility with the development of the small computer chip. Nurses work in a variety of settings today and use portable computers in wireless phones and computers at the bedside.

Virtuality means working through virtual means using digital networks, where the worker may be far from the patient but present in a digital reality. Telemetry monitoring and telehealth care by nurses are examples of virtuality.

User‐driven practices mean that, at a time when digital mediums have given us more access to information and therefore more choices, the individual acts more independently and is increasingly accountable for those choices and actions. Nurses use electronic devices for self and patient education and teach patients to use digital monitors for self‐care.

Nursing leadership practices are evolving to match nurses' work within this mobile, changing environment, with nurses as knowledge workers who can make decisions and take action. This is facilitated by the growth and sophistication of nursing research, the application of nursing science, and the translation of available evidence into evidence‐based nursing practice. Nurses are able to display the rich and valuable contribution that their knowledge and expertise make to the quality of patient care and to quality health care outcomes.