Sunday, Sep 26 - Expo Hall Opening
Sunday, Sep 26 - Job Fair
Monday,
Sep 27 - AWHONN's Block Party
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Title: A Country Fair of Solutions to Share
Discipline: Women’s Health (WH), Professional Issues (PI), Newborn (NB), Childbearing (CB)
Learning Objectives:
Submission Description:- Describe the usefulness of sharing information among varied units in a Maternal/Child department.
- Identify two ways in which to engage learners at a poster fair.
- Identify the need to promote interest in a specialty nursing organization for non-member nurses.
Each year our Labor and Delivery Unit, which delivers over 7,000 babies a year, is buzzing with the news of who is attending the national AWHONN conference as a poster or paper presenter. Many of these nurses cannot attend the national conference and miss out on the initiatives undertaken by co-workers in related Maternal/Child departmental units such as NICU and Post-partum. To optimize communication about the projects and encourage implementing new ideas into nursing practice, the authors developed an educational event in order to share the science of the nationally presented posters and papers. An additional objective was to promote interest in their nursing specialty organization.
A poster display event was deemed optimal for departmental presentation. However, to stimulate interest, a novel approach to the event involved employing a theme. The “Country Fair” theme was chosen for event to celebrate the location of Nashville for the 2010 conference. “Fair” attendees would visit posters to earn continuing education units. Interspersed with posters, attendees could participate in games that one would find at a country fair, such as the pie-eating contest, duck pond, spin-the-wheel, guess the number, and a fortuneteller visit. The games’ prizes would be in the form of clues that were needed to solve a word puzzle created by the event planners. Games were designed to uniquely appeal to Women’s Health nurses when possible. For instance, the wheel spin game is presented as an estimated due date calculator wheel. The fortuneteller is none other than the charge nurse! After all, she determines the future of each nurse for the shift. Drawing a card from the fortuneteller’s deck reveals a clue.
Those who solve the word puzzle from the games’ clues are entered into a raffle for prizes. The solution to the puzzle is the words “Sharing science, finding solutions”. Using AWHONN’s 2010 conference theme as the solution was designed to create interest in these nurses’ specialty organization and to create excitement for next year’s conference.
The atmosphere of the “Country Fair” was rounded out with country music, displays of farm animals – the stuffed variety, the baby contest winner who just happens to be the infant resuscitation practice doll, and edible treats from the bake-off.
The event was held in three different four-hour blocks around shift changes for ease of access and to encourage networking among nurses from all Maternal/Child units.
This unique educational event promoted learning, networking and the AWHONN organization in a memorable way.
A poster display event was deemed optimal for departmental presentation. However, to stimulate interest, a novel approach to the event involved employing a theme. The “Country Fair” theme was chosen for event to celebrate the location of Nashville for the 2010 conference. “Fair” attendees would visit posters to earn continuing education units. Interspersed with posters, attendees could participate in games that one would find at a country fair, such as the pie-eating contest, duck pond, spin-the-wheel, guess the number, and a fortuneteller visit. The games’ prizes would be in the form of clues that were needed to solve a word puzzle created by the event planners. Games were designed to uniquely appeal to Women’s Health nurses when possible. For instance, the wheel spin game is presented as an estimated due date calculator wheel. The fortuneteller is none other than the charge nurse! After all, she determines the future of each nurse for the shift. Drawing a card from the fortuneteller’s deck reveals a clue.
Those who solve the word puzzle from the games’ clues are entered into a raffle for prizes. The solution to the puzzle is the words “Sharing science, finding solutions”. Using AWHONN’s 2010 conference theme as the solution was designed to create interest in these nurses’ specialty organization and to create excitement for next year’s conference.
The atmosphere of the “Country Fair” was rounded out with country music, displays of farm animals – the stuffed variety, the baby contest winner who just happens to be the infant resuscitation practice doll, and edible treats from the bake-off.
The event was held in three different four-hour blocks around shift changes for ease of access and to encourage networking among nurses from all Maternal/Child units.
This unique educational event promoted learning, networking and the AWHONN organization in a memorable way.
