Information Literacy

1. Discuss the selected competency

Information literacy can be referred to as the ability to recognize when there is a need for information. Information literate individuals are also able to obtain, evaluate and utilize the required information effectively. In the health care setting possessing effective information literacy skills influences a wide range of knowledge-based behavior. Therefore, in line with this competency, practising nurses should be able to evaluate information as it allows them to make informed decisions within the clinical setting as well as supporting the utilization of evidence to provide quality clinical care.

• How do knowledge and skill relate to the selected competency to improve patient outcomes?

Information literacy skills are employed when seeking to find answers to clinical questions. The process of information literacy entails phases, which include finding, retrieving, evaluating and application of information. As such, the nurses require a specific skill set to enable them to complete each face successfully. Again, nurses with increased exposure and knowledge have enhanced perceptions of their abilities to obtain information. Therefore, nurses need skills to look for evidence-based resources and use that evidence to improve the quality of care they provide to the patient population (Arndt, 2009). However, nurses who lack the knowledge and necessary skills tend to obtain information from general or less-credible sources like asking their colleagues or drawing from their past experiences.  The dynamic nature of healthcare calls for nurses to incorporate evidence-based approaches to nursing care. Therefore, nurses ought to use up-to-date professional literature that will help them make the best decisions, thus achieving patient satisfaction as well as positive health outcomes.

3. Give a specific example of how this competency can improve patient outcomes and provide an environment conducive to safe, effective care

Information literacy helps the management of health facilities to make decisions about acquiring medical ventilators that can help patients who have chronic infections and are currently admitted in the intensive care unit (Nurses, 2005). The ventilators will ensure that there is no transmission of the infections to family members who take care of the patient and the nurses in the ICU. Again, the ventilators will minimize the transmission of hospital-acquired infections from one patient to another because the equipment will be thoroughly sterilized. The ventilators will increase the survival chances of the patients, thus improving the patient’s outcome, and the environment is conducive and safe to all in the hospital facility (Nurses, 2005).

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References

Arndt, R. M. (2009). Library and information literacy. Journal of Emergency Nursing, 35(4), 360-362. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jen.2009.03.011

Nurses, A. A. of C.-C. (2005). AACN standards for establishing and sustaining healthy work environments: a journey to excellence. American Journal of Critical Care, 14(3), 187–197.