Nursing Information Literacy, Evidence-Based Nursing Competency, and Clinical Innovative Behavior Among Newly...

Guided by the conservation of resources theory, this study examined the associations of nursing information literacy and evidence-based nursing competency with clinical innovative behavior among newly employed master's-prepared nurses and further explored the additional contribution of cumulative publication output.

A multicenter cross-sectional design was employed in Hunan Province, China. Anonymous online surveys were conducted using a general information questionnaire, the Chinese version of the Nursing Information Literacy Scale, the Evidence-Based Nursing Competency Scale, and the Nurse Innovative Behavior Scale. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 27.0 software, encompassing descriptive statistics, independent-samples t tests, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation analysis, and hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis, along with sensitivity analyses.

The mean clinical innovative behavior score was 32.65 ± 8.08. Clinical innovative behavior was positively correlated with nursing information literacy (r = 0.783, p < 0.01) and evidence-based nursing competency (r = 0.616, p < 0.01). The final regression model explained 64.1% of the variance (adjusted R² = 0.626). After adjustment for work experience, work pressure, and cumulative publication output, nursing information literacy (β = 0.680, p < 0.001) and evidence-based nursing competency (β = 0.144, p = 0.002) remained positively associated with clinical innovative behavior. Adding cumulative publication output increased the explained variance by 0.9 percentage points, but this increment was not statistically significant (ΔR² = 0.009, p = 0.056). Sensitivity analyses showed that the findings for nursing information literacy and evidence-based nursing competency were generally stable.

Nursing information literacy and evidence-based nursing competency were positively associated with clinical innovative behavior among newly employed master's-prepared nurses. Nursing managers may consider strengthening information literacy and evidence-based practice training and providing mentoring, protected time, and resource support. The overall contribution of cumulative publication output was not statistically significant in the primary adjusted model, and publication-related findings were model-dependent and exploratory.

Nursing managers may consider incorporating information retrieval, literature appraisal, evidence synthesis, and evidence translation into orientation programs and continuing professional development, while also providing protected time and resources at the organizational level and adopting multidimensional performance evaluations.