Epistemology is the study of what human beings know, how they come to know what they think they know and what the criteria are for evaluating knowledge claims. Nursing epistemology is the study of knowledge shared among the members of the discipline, the patterns of knowing and knowledge that develops from them, and the criteria for accepting knowledge claims. Three types of knowledge specific to nursing as a discipline are described here: clinical knowledge, conceptual knowledge and empirical knowledge. Different criteria for evaluating each type are suggested.

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An interdisciplinary team in a local public health district tested its ability to implement the core public health functions of assessment, policy development, and assurance by changing its practice to a community-driven model of building partnerships for health with groups and communities in a designated locale. Evaluation of this innovation revealed that the public health nurse members of the team enacted their community health nursing knowledge to strengthen agency to cocreate health. Interdisciplinary collaboration was essential to the team's community mobilization efforts. Additional findings suggested that this organizational innovation was associated with developing a more participatory organizational climate, increasing system effectiveness, and building community capacity.