Purpose for the program: Describe the develoment and utilization of the Professional Development Model at Grant Medical Center, Columbus, Ohio.

Proposed change: Provide a tool to assist Managers and Nursing Staff with their ongoing Professional Development.

Implementation, outcomes and evaluation: Tool has been developed and benefits and results of the process through Spring 2012 will be shared.

Implications for nursing practice: Magnet hospital rich in resources that benefited from a concise, graphic tool to assist with coaching and mentoring of every staff member.

Keywords: Professional Development Model, Nursing Practice Model, Individual Development Plan.

Professional development for nurses can sometimes be puzzling.  While professional practice is more clearly defined, individuals can become overwhelmed with their own continued professional development.  In our organization, the Nursing Professional Practice Model was developed by staff nurse members of our hospital-wide Nursing Congress.  These nurses collaborated to determine the key concepts essential to nursing practice.  The result is a creative representation of a downtown cityscape with the core elements of our nursing practice. A framed copy of the artistic schematic on every unit guides staff nurses to articulate the concepts. They have adopted the model into their everyday practices.  While our Professional Practice Model serves to guide nursing practice, it recently became obvious that a supplement to represent the development of an individual professional nurse would also be valuable.  Again, we turned to the Nursing Congress.  The Model they developed is a creative, complex and organized graphic tool that describes the concepts and extraordinary options available for professional development within our organization.  The key concepts of the model include:  Self Development, Membership/Leadership, Role Choices, Recognition and Academic Development. Our model serves as a vibrant visual tool that provides a framework to explore resource choices.  Nurse Leaders work with staff to coach and mentor their custom Individual Development Plan.  Using the model as a reference, managers can guide nurses in choosing puzzle pieces from the comprehensive list in order to create an individual pathway, making professional development less of an enigma.