Sunday, Sep 26 - Expo Hall Opening
Sunday, Sep 26 - Job Fair
Monday,
Sep 27 - AWHONN's Block Party
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Title: Taking the First Steps to Professional Development and Evidence-Based Practice
Discipline: Professional Issues (PI), Newborn (NB), Childbearing (CB)
Learning Objectives:
Submission Description:- Develop a process to promote professionalism in staff nurses through continuing education.
- Describe methods for engaging staff nurses in lifelong learning.
- Collaborate with nursing staff to apply nursing research and evidence-based practice to the development of clinical case studies.
Level of Presentation: All Levels
Poster Presentation
Taking the First Steps to Professional Development and Evidence-Based Practice
Julie Gettemeier MSN, RN
Barnes-Jewish St.Peters
The nursing profession continues to be challenged with the ongoing demands of continuing education from regulatory bodies, professional organizations and employment requirements. Lifelong learning involves a commitment from the professional nurse and includes continuing education and evidence-based practice. The obstetrics unit of this small community hospital averages around 750 deliveries per year and the staff receive clinical training in caring for antepartum, intrapartum, postpartum and neonatal patients. The department offers family-centered nursing care in an LDRP setting. With a diverse population of patients for whom to care, the nursing staff chose to take responsibility for their education and professional development in order to improve patient safety and overall patient care.
In 2008, the staff nurses representing the nursery and labor committees for the Obstetrics unit took ownership of their learning needs and developed self-learning educational packets related to various topics in caring for obstetric and neonatal patients. Using evidence-based practice, clinical expertise and current policy and procedure the committee members developed case studies and presented them to the nursing staff for continuing education. The topics chosen by the nursing staff included amniotic fluid embolism, pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH), postpartum hemorrhage, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), hyperbilirubinemia, HELLP syndrome and blood gas interpretation. Each case study included a self-teaching module with an assessment tool. Each month the nursing staff completed the case studies and submitted them to the committee members for evaluation. At the end of the year, data was retrieved to evaluate the nursing staff completion and assess the participation in the case studies. The manager of the nursing unit had encouraged the staff to complete at least four of the eleven case studies that were presented (36%). On average, staff nurses completed six case studies and related a positive learning experience and acquisition of knowledge as a result of the case studies.
As a result of the knowledge attained by the staff nurses, the development of new case studies has been continued into 2009. The nursing staff has actively increased their knowledge related to evidence-based practice and nursing research practices while making a commitment to lifelong learning and acknowledging their role as professional nurses.
