Florence... Look At Skills Fair Now! 3 Hospitals, 18 Units, 500 Staff Members, 60 Hours

Purpose for the program: The obstetrical and neonatal divisions of Bon Secours Richmond Health System consist of three hospitals, in different community settings. Previously, each facility has validated yearly competencies in the individual obstetrical and neonatal areas independent of each other. Standardized policies and procedures have not been shared across the facilities, although physicians are shared among the facilities. The educators from the obstetrical and neonatal areas believe in promoting systemness throughout the facilities and moving away from the adage of “that’s how we’ve always done it at our hospital.”

Proposed change: The system wide skills fair will incorporate the methodologies of team training, knowledge expansion, professional communication techniques through simulation, and teach back opportunities. By promoting a system wide level of education in the obstetrical and neonatal areas, patients entering any hospital in the health system will benefit from the same level of expertise and knowledge from the nursing staff.

Implementation, outcomes and evaluation: The concept of the system wide skills fair was derived 18 months ago by the educators. In order to ensure success of the program, the educator group determined a slow introduction to simulation and staff networking was prudent. The original skills assessment took place over an eight month period. Labor and Delivery nursing staff from the three facilities were included. Simulation training and skills validation took place one day per month in four hour sessions. Nursing staff from the units were introduced to each other and had the ability to discuss practice issues at each facility. Open discussion around the practice issues was encouraged and alliances were formed. Evaluations of the simulation education performed with the smaller groups were positive and requesting different scenarios be introduced. The system wide skills fair will incorporate different simulation scenarios and an opportunity for teach back validation. Staff will be scheduled for the time to be spent at skills fair to promote the effectiveness of learning in smaller groups.

Implications for nursing practice: Nurse leaders from the different units in the three facilities will present best practices to the participants. Teach back opportunities will be performed on skills considered low volume and high risk in the obstetrical and neonatal areas. The educator group feels that best practices should be promoted regardless of geographical location.

Keywords: Skill Fair, Teach Back, Competency Assessment, Simulation