Clinical Education Nurse Specialist The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Sicklerville, New Jersey, United States
Abstract:
Background: After conducting an educational needs assessment, a knowledge gap was identified related to defect and physiology of the complex cardiac patient. Cardiac Center Education Days (CCED) were created to provide a foundation for individual success and improved patient care across the cardiac center and beyond. This program is designed for new to practice nurses to the pediatric cardiology field. This includes nurses from the following units; Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU), Cardiac Care Unit (CCU) comprised of step-down cardiac patients, Infant Transitional Care Unit (ITCU) comprised of step-down neonatal cardiac patients, and the Nursing Operations Department (NOD) who includes all float nurses to the institution. The learning opportunities presented are designed to enhance communication and collaboration between the inter professional team to improve team dynamics. The content is divided into 8 weeks with two 1-hour didactic sessions followed by an interactive application to implement critical thinking skills by introducing nursing considerations for patients with a specific diagnosis or defect.
Methods: The program evaluation includes pre and post education surveys to evaluate effectiveness of content delivery and retention of knowledge. A Likert scale was used to evaluate both relevance of material and application of knowledge based on area of practice.
Results: Five cohorts have participated in this program. In cohort 1, an average of 16 nurses attended comprised of multiple units The average post test scores were higher than the average pretest scores by 40% (median score: posttest 81% and Pretest 58%). Cohort 2 had an average of 10 participants from multiple units. The average post test scores were higher than the average pretest score by 61% (median score: posttest 76% and pretest 52%). Using a Likert scale, course participants from the CICU, CCU, NOD, and ITCU reported that they would apply the knowledge learned to their daily practice 100% of the time and that the material was 100% relevant to their areas of practice. The CCL participants reported that the information received was somewhat relevant to their area of practice and they would apply the knowledge learned sometimes to their area of practice.
Conclusion: The development of didactic education coupled with application of critical thinking in the care of the complex cardiac patient is a critical aspect of the orientation process and development of nurses new to practice. The preliminary data has shown an increase in comprehension of knowledge. Subjective data revealed that regardless of area of practice, nurses have found the material relevant and applicable to their areas. For future cohorts, improvements have been implemented based on subjective feedback. For example, adding more simulation exercises to compliment the didactic portions as well as broadening our content scope to be inclusive to all areas. To continue to evaluate, post implementation surveys will be sent to the participants now functioning independently in their areas of practice to evaluate retention of knowledge and relevance of material to evaluate the effectiveness of this didactic content 3 months post participation.
