Knowledge Worker And Healthcare : An Definition Of Knowledge

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Knowledge Worker in Healthcare
Knowledge workers are valuable to any organization, but healthcare needs knowledge nurses to keep up with the organizations with which they work. Healthcare technology is what is keeping organizations constantly learning new best practices to keep with the changing world of healthcare informatics. Successful organizations are allowing all staff to participate in the direction of the hospital, this new way of thinking allows for more opportunities for good knowledge workers to help with innovations needed to keep the organization within the race to be the best. Today is a great day to be a nurse, gone is the nurse of the past who performed basic tasks without any autonomy. The new nurse is full of knowledge to not only grow as a person, but grow as a part of a team of people who are making a difference in the face of healthcare.
The Concept of Knowledge Worker
The Webster’s dictionary definition of knowledge is “the information, understanding, or skill that you get from experience or education (2011).” The key words with this definition are experience and education. It takes a combination of both of these skills to be a knowledge worker. Knowledge workers are valuable to any organization because of the ideas and innovation they bring to it. Nurses can be taught through school and work training how to perform tasks. The next generation nurse needs to transform from task worker to knowledge worker. To obtain this knowledge nurses must use experiences and observations over time. The actual definition of knowledge worker varies from author to author, but the main key points is that a knowledge worker in healthcare is creative and innovative. They have abilities to identify problems and work ...

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...for themselves, allowing them to be discharged earlier and more involved with their own care.
Conclusion
Nurses can continue to evolve into people who is not only a person who advocates for patients and is caring and empathetic, but those that can improve the quality of care that is required for the advancement of healthcare as a whole. Technology is at the forefront of innovation and the nurse of today plays an important role in not only learning how to best use technology but also how to teach and be the innovators of new technology to come. Nurses have evolved into these knowledge workers through increased education, increased use of evidence and participating in more than performing simple patient tasks. Successful organizations are allowing nurses to be a part of their growth and in return nurses are reaping the benefits of working for these organizations.

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