A Conceptual Model of Nursing Information Behavior (NIB)

What is nursing information behavior (NIB)? How do home care nurses--working independently in the community--gather, access, manage and use information? The author describes the professional environment space (PES) of the home care nurse as a wellspring of information, where both nurse and client interact and collaborate to maintain health and a sense of well-being as their mutual goal. There are factors, variables and situations in this PES that influence the nursing information behavior of home care nurses. An analysis of this behavior is included, using input from home care nurses working in a large metropolitan home care agency. The result is a framework of nursing information be-havior that will guide other nursing professionals understand, define and articulate their own; assist those in academia to conceptualize and teach this concept to nurses and students of nursing; provide direction to home care managers and administrators; and, serve as a tool when formulating community health nursing practice standards and policy, and when designing information technology, software and systems for use in home care.