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I love it!! I like to think of myself as scholarly on several levels, and to me it would mean that I base my care on the sum of all I have learned in my life, not just in nursing but also in experience and wide reading.
I look at "bedside scholar" as the nurse who bases his or her interventions and nursing care on research (evidence-based practice). Here is a great article along these lines:
(I have had computer touble and haven't looked at the article yet.)
But this is such an interesting topic that I resorted to the low tech approach. I pulled out my old Oxford Universal Dictionary, and found this definition of scholar: "A learned or erudite person; esp. one who iis learned in the classical languages and their literature." I know this is an old definition, but to me it suggests an broad, inclusive level of knowledge across disciplines. To me it would include more than research.
That is why, I think, that nurses benefit from a broad educational base. I don't mean to minimize the importance of research for giving care, but I can hardly think of any aspect of learning that might not somehow enrich care and nursing in general.
I look at "bedside scholar" as the nurse who bases his or her interventions and nursing care on research (evidence-based practice). Here is a great article along these lines: