Assignment: The Nurse Leader as Knowledge Worker
The term “knowledge worker” was first coined by management consultant and author Peter Drucker in his book, The Landmarks of Tomorrow (1959). Drucker defined knowledge workers as high-level workers who apply theoretical and analytical knowledge, acquired through formal training, to develop products and services. Does this sound familiar?
Nurses are very much knowledge workers. What has changed since Drucker’s time are the ways that knowledge can be acquired. The volume of data that can now be generated and the tools used to access this data have evolved significantly in recent years and helped healthcare professionals (among many others) to assume the role of knowledge worker in new and powerful ways.
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. Nurses are highly educated professionals. What has changed since Drucker’s time are the methods for acquiring knowledge. The amount of data that can now be generated, as well as the tools used to access it, have evolved significantly in recent years, allowing healthcare professionals (among many others) to take on the role of knowledge worker in new and powerful ways.
In this Assignment, you will examine how the role of the nurse leader has evolved and how this evolution has led nurse leaders to assume the role of knowledge worker. You will create a PowerPoint presentation that includes an infographic (a graphic that visually represents information, data, or knowledge; infographics are intended to present information quickly and clearly.) to educate others on the role of the nurse as a 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.
• Develop a simple infographic to help explain these concepts.

NOTE: For guidance on infographics, including how to create one in PowerPoint, see “How to Make an Infographic in PowerPoint” presented in the Resources.

• 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.
Submission and Grading Information
To submit your completed Assignment for review and grading, do the following:
• Please save your Assignment using the naming convention “WK2Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” as the name.
• Click the Week 2 Assignment Rubric to review the Grading Criteria for the Assignment.
• Click the Week 2 Assignment link. You will also be able to “View Rubric” for grading criteria from this area.
• Next, from the Attach File area, click on the Browse My Computer button. Find the document you saved as “WK2Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” and click Open.
• If applicable: From the Plagiarism Tools area, click the checkbox for I agree to submit my paper(s) to the Global Reference Database.
• Click on the Submit button to complete your submission.
Nurse Leader as a Knowledge Worker
The concept of a knowledge worker is a person with a specialization in a certain field. Specialization can be in fields such as engineering, architecture, and academicians (Lee, 2017). Peter Drucker was the first to coin the concept. The concept is today used in the healthcare field. Healthcare workers, especially, nurse leaders have a responsibility in the healthcare environment of ensuring quality, safe, efficient, and timely delivery of care. To execute diverse duties such as planning, examining evidence-based practices, and assigning duties, they need to amass diverse knowledge.
Nurse leaders have a responsibility of assuming the role of a knowledge worker. Nurse leaders bear skills including gathering data, analysis, and identifying patterns. The analysis of healthcare patterns and gathering additional data for research is necessary to improve the quality of patient outcomes. Nurses should examine the evidence-based practices to safeguard patients. The purpose is to ensure nurses complete tasks efficiently to promote patient welfare and saftey (La Torre et al., 2017). Nurse leaders are knowledge workers in the healthcare environment due to their responsibilities.
Nurses leaders have a responsibility to assume diverse skills. Nurse leaders are thriving in a fast-changing healthcare environment. For example, the healthcare environment is transforming from manual to automatic (La Torre et al., 2017). It is the responsibility of nurses to embrace diverse skills and learn how to use technologies that are available in the healthcare environment. Technologies such as EHR, Telemedicine, Artificial intelligence, and robots require specialized skills (La Torre et al., 2017). The nurse leaders should learn how to use the technologies to gather data, analyze it, communicate to other nurses and promote quality patient outcomes.
The infographic shows a visual representation of the role of a nurse leader as a knowledge worker in the healthcare environment. The nurse will assume the roles of a knowledge worker including gathering data, using the information, and building on the available data. The nurse leader will use the information to carry out tasks such as assessment, diagnosis, planning, diagnosis, intervention, and Assessment of outcomes.
References
Lee, H. S. (2017). Knowledge management enablers and process in hospital organizations. Osong public health and research perspectives, 8(1), 26.
La Torre, G., Scalingi, S., Garruto, V., Siclari, M., Chiarini, M., & Mannocci, A. (2017, March). Knowledge, attitude and behaviours towards recommended vaccinations among healthcare workers. In Healthcare (Vol. 5, No. 1, p. 13). Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute.

Published by
Essays
View all posts