Answer

Using the Data/Information/Knowledge/Wisdom Continuum

Introduction

This paper covers the continuum of turning data into useful information and knowledge and then finally into wisdom. This is a step by step process and none of the stages can be skipped as evidenced by the analysis of the research question: how does talking about chronic and life shortening illnesses affect families? The question developed focuses on the impact of discussing chronic and life shortening illnesses on the family as whole. The crucial concept behind this question is whether such discussion makes it worse or better for patients suffering from chronic diseases and their families. The research question intends to find out the impact of such discussions on the patient as well as his or her family when suffering from chronic diseases (Brodie & Brodie, 2009). The paper intends to walk the reader through the entire four steps including how the nursing practitioner tackled each of the steps to finally arrive at the stage of wisdom.

Working through the four steps

Firstly, I would identify the relevant databases that might contain articles that have information relating to my chosen question. This represents the data stage of the four steps. Next, I would identify the relevant articles that might contain the information that I need regarding my chosen question, which marks the second step among the four steps. I would then read the relevant journal articles that have information on my topic question hence gaining knowledge about my chosen question, which is the third step (Hariharan, 2015). After careful thought and analysis of the knowledge obtained from the different articles, I would wisely apply the relevant knowledge to specific patient situations, which marks the development of wisdom. This is the last of the four steps required in the continuum.

I would use medical databases such as The Journal of Family Nursing by Sage Journals. I would also use other scholarly databases such as EBSCO Host and World cat in finding medical articles that cover the given topic question. I would use search words like, “chronic” and “life shortening illnesses,” as well as “conversations” and “family.” These words and phrases would help me find specific articles containing the content covered by the research question.

I would take the information gleaned through my search for relevant articles and study the articles selected in order to gain usable knowledge on my research question. In order to turn the information gleaned through the research into usable knowledge (Matney, Maddox & Staggers, 2014). I would combine the information with my own knowledge of the family nursing practice and arrive at suitable conclusions based on the assimilated knowledge. The information can also be turned into usable knowledge through the use of informatics that can be used to draw conclusions about the knowledge and information gathered through study.

Informatics can be used to gain wisdom by connecting different types of information and knowledge to arrive at plausible conclusions based on the informatics derived from the knowledge and information gained through study. One can also gain wisdom by connecting the information contained in the informatics with individual knowledge gathered through practice and individual study to draw correct conclusions about the research question (Randles, Blades & Fadlalla, 2012). Informatics can be used to connect disparate ideas from different practice areas into a cohesive picture that contains the wisdom of each of the practice areas to create a new area of wisdom. 

Progress from having useful knowledge to wisdom

In order to attain wisdom, one must accumulate a significant amount of useful knowledge about different areas of practice and have the ability to combine all that useful knowledge into a successful practice that is based on wisdom. Wisdom arises out of nursing experience that a family nurse has gathered through years of practicing as a registered nurse and handling different case scenarios that have created a library of accumulated experience in the nurses mind. The experience gained from many years of practice as a registered nurse or a qualified family nursing practice nurse can be considered wisdom when combined with the useful knowledge gained from studying the relevant articles searched from databases (Rowley, 2007). Useful knowledge combines with years of experiences handling similar cases can easily turn into wisdom as experience is the best teacher. Therefore, my progress in turning useful knowledge into wisdom as a recent family nursing practice graduate is the application of what I have learnt in graduate school as well as what I have learnt in my practice. Using this experience and combining it with the useful knowledge acquired through my research would result in unprecedented wisdom in my daily practice.

Summary/ conclusion

The process of turning data into useful information and knowledge, which in turn is converted to wisdom, is complex process that must be accompanied by experience in order to turn into wisdom. The first step is to covert the data compiled in different databases into useful information that is specific to the research question before turning the useful information into useful knowledge. The useful information is turned into useful knowledge through in-depth study and analysis in order to gather all the useful knowledge contained in the specific journal articles. The useful knowledge is turned into wisdom when combined with experience to provide appropriate solutions to the problem identified through the research question.