Improving access to CPD for nurses: the uptake of online provision

Utilizing a Learning Management System to Provide Nursing Professional Development

The provider unit involved in this project was based in a university setting within a school of nursing and serves both the university nursing faculty and nurses within the community. To support effective online content design principles, usability, a connection to the content, and a method for participants to provide sound feedback, a nurse planner for the unit and an instructional designer in the university collaborated to transition nursing professional development activities to an online format utilizing a learning management system. Virtual learning is viable and a potentially effective option to provide interactive and innovative professional development.

Do educational interventions improve the attitudes of emergency nurses towards patients who self-harm? A systematic review

Negative nurse attitudes towards emergency department patients who self-harm may increase the risk of repeated self-harm and suicide. This article details a systematic review that aimed to examine the evidence on the efficacy of educational interventions to improve the attitudes of emergency nurses towards patients who self-harm. Eight articles describing six intervention studies, published between 2001 and 2018, met the criteria for inclusion. The review found that educational interventions for emergency nurses improved their attitudes to patients who self-harm, but there was a lack of consistency in the approaches used and a reliance on self-report measures. Further training for emergency nurses is needed because of their crucial role in self-harm and suicide prevention.

Implementing public health nursing training for Ireland's National Healthy Childhood Programme

Public health nurses (PHNs) in Ireland provide preventative child health. An evidence‐based National Healthy Childhood Program (NHCP) has been in development since 2016. The final program implementation, including training all PHNs coincided with the Covid‐19 pandemic.

How registered nurses balance limited resources in order to maintain competence: a grounded theory study

Background

Nurses have limited time outside of work for continuing professional development. Consequently, strategies need to be explored to enable them to better maintain their competence. This article describes recent research investigating if nursing behaviours in the use of mobile technologies could be leveraged to better facilitate mobile learning. It addresses a gap in the existing literature around how nurses resource their own professional development and learning in the absence of appropriate learning resources in the workplace.

Methods

The research employed a classic grounded theory methodology which was conducted with 27 registered nurses from Public and Private Hospitals in Queensland and external postgraduate nursing students from Victoria, South Australia and the Northern Territory enrolled at the University of Southern Queensland.

Results

The Theory of Economising Learning describes how nurses maintain competence with limited resources. Unfavourable staffing levels and a fast-paced workplace mean that nurses rarely prioritise their professional learning while at work. Instead, it requires the nurse to contribute personal resources including time and money.

Though the research revealed nurses were unconcerned about using mobile technologies, they were concerned about maintaining competence with limited resources. To counter this, nurses economised their learning by balancing personal resources against their motivation to maintain competence. The process of economising learning begins and ends with the development of the nurse’s personal curriculum in response to what they identify as being the most significant knowledge deficits at work that jeopardise their competence. A learning opportunity that addresses the knowledge deficit is sought. Nurses balance the opportunity to address the deficit against the cost of personal resources, to decide if they will engage with the opportunity and update their personal curriculum accordingly.

Conclusions

It is suggested that workplaces need to create reasonable expectations within nurses to address knowledge deficits and provide the resources, including time, to allow them to do so without personal cost. It is also necessary for workplaces to moderate the flow of learning opportunities so as not to overwhelm and demotivate the nurses. Currently, nurses use several strategies to optimise their learning using mobile technologies which could be leveraged in the workplace.

Evaluation of a blended learning approach to developing specialty-nursing practice. An exploratory descriptive qualitative study

BACKGROUND

An ageing population and a transitioning workforce is creating demands on healthcare workforces. Clinical and procedural knowledge deficits cause anxieties in new and experienced nurses alike when integrating into new teams. Overcoming these boundaries can be achieved with Introductory programs. These develop knowledge, technical skills and non-technical skills. Investigating nurses drive to undertake such programs, and the benefits they perceive for themselves, will help to tailor future programs.

OBJECTIVES

To explore post-registration nurses' motivations for undertaking an introductory program that utilised a blended learning methodology. Identifying changes in participants understanding and clinical behaviours.

METHODS

An exploratory descriptive qualitative study design was used to evaluate the Introduction to Specialty Practice (ISP) program that is run by a large private healthcare provider in Melbourne, Australia. The health service includes eight campuses and four intensive care units across the group. Twelve participants from a mixture of critical care and acute care clinical areas were consented. They were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Responses were transcribed verbatim and thematic analysis of the transcripts then occurred.

RESULTS

The study demonstrated intrinsic and extrinsic factors influenced participant's desires to undertake this program. Three major themes were evident: 1) that caring without knowledge was daunting, 2) that participants needed to create a clinical and professional identity and 3) that participant's perspective on their delivery of care improved, along with their professional aptitude.

CONCLUSION

Maintaining currency with knowledge, skills, and technological developments is crucial for nurses to consistently deliver high-level care. The demands that nurses' face within their clinical areas affects their intention to stay within the workforce and their ability to deliver care. Introductory programs that utilise blended learning strategies have a role to play in enabling nurses to create their professional identity, find their position in clinical teams, and meet the requirements of organisations.

Stakeholder perceptions of curriculum design, development and delivery for continuing e-learning for nurses

BACKGROUND

This paper reports the qualitative findings from stage 5 of an action research project which involved the redesign of continuing professional education (CPE) courses in one organisation.

AIM

The aim of this study was to explore key stakeholders perceptions of the teaching, learning and outcomes of a new curriculum design for CPE involving e-learning.

METHOD

This project used participatory action research, involving stakeholders as participants in a process of inquiry about the change. The study took place in an academic teaching hospital and consisted of three focus group interviews with a total of 20 nurses. Participants included stakeholders who had developed curricula and managers from clinical areas where CPE courses had been undertaken.

FINDINGS

Four main themes emerged, revealing staff perceptions on the process of change and their own 'lightbulb moments' experienced during this process. Results also indicate that the change has resulted in learner-focused CPE, with a range of opportunities for continued educational development in future.

CONCLUSION

Key stakeholders' experience is seldom reported in studies related to CPE. This study provides an insight into the experiences of key stakeholders in relation to the development and delivery of CPE courses. Stakeholders indicated that they were able to see the benefits of implementing new CPE curricula they had contributed to. They also commented that clinical-pertinent and competence-based courses were more learner focused as a result of combining online content with supported workshops.

Fit for purpose? Evaluation of CPD courses for nurses in an Irish university teaching hospital

INTRODUCTION

acute tertiary hospitals require knowledgeable, skilled registered nurses to care for patients in specialist areas. It is also a professional responsibility that nurses maintain skills and competence. This article reports on stage 1 of an action research study to evaluate the delivery of continuing professional development (CPD) courses for registered nurses in an acute hospital in Ireland.

METHODS

an audit and qualitative self-reporting questionnaire was used to obtain data. The questionnaire focused on the areas of teaching learning and outcomes. Overall, five CPD courses, each of 26 weeks' duration, were evaluated.

RESULTS

teaching delivery was all didactic and was delivered primarily by clinical staff with expert knowledge and skills, but the teaching approaches varied. The curriculum content was identified as excessive and at a high level for an introductory course, with a large volume of classroom-based theoretical delivery. Participant learning was reported as excellent in the clinical areas; however, this was counterbalanced by heavy workloads and staffing shortages. Participant motivation was also found to influence learning. From an outcome perspective the development of new knowledge and skills was reported in participants who had undertaken the courses, and participants reported that the CPD courses assisted in recruitment and retention.

CONCLUSION

although many positive aspects of the CPD courses were identified, it is clear that some changes were required with particular reference to theoretical delivery and curriculum content.

Developing blended online and classroom strategies to deliver an occupational health nursing overview course in a multi-state region in the United States

This article describes how hybrid online and classroom learning approaches were used to design and offer an occupational health nursing review course throughout a multi-state region of the northwest United States. In response to demand from practicing occupational health nurses for board certification preparation, a series of asynchronous and synchronous continuing education modules was created covering a range of occupational health nursing topics. This review course illustrates how innovative educational delivery models can serve the needs of occupational health nurses challenged by geographic and time constraints.