Continuing Education --Getting staff to complete it

bluegeegoo2, LPN · Feb 14, 2018

Maybe have a drawing with the names of those who complete each month for a chance to win a $25 gift card. $50 card for every quarter, $100 every 6 mo and $250/year. We like money.

(For the record, I do mine simply because it would be my luck to get audited when I renew.)

llg, PhD, RN · Feb 14, 2018

Most people consider this type of activity so unpleasant that there is not much you can do. Yes, you can make it a bit more pleasant ... but in the end, your employer needs to consider the completion of the modules as mandatory and be willing to discipline those who don't meet that job expectation. If your employer lets people get away with not doing them, there is not much you can do to get everyone to do them voluntarily.

My employer has monthly class days. Each person is assigned a month of the year to get their stuff done. They do the computer stuff and then go to the class being held that month. Doing it as a group with a party atmosphere and seeing the same people on your assigned month each year makes it a little more pleasant -- and everything gets done and "signed off" for the year. If you don't get your stuff done that month (due to illness, etc.), you can make it up the following month. But after that, if you haven't gotten your required education done, you get suspended without pay until it is done and can be fired if you don't get it done real quick.

It's been done that way for years and everyone accepts it as a necessary part of the job. Most people try to make the best of it by keeping the mood light at their yearly class day. Some people bring in food for the group, etc. and remind themselves that they are getting paid to not take care of the patients that day.

CoffeeRTC, BSN, RN · Feb 15, 2018

I might have to try the gift card option. Money does motivate.

llg, I agree...It should be a condition of employment. Sad to say that we'd have to let go of at least 75% of our staff. This is LTC and our staffing is tight. Just when we think we have an awesome crew and positions are filled..bam! Call offs, someome gets sick, someome is taking FMLA etc. I'd like to assign a day a every 6 weeks that I can take a few people off the schedule and do inservices etc .

Nascar nurse, ASN, RN · Feb 15, 2018

We use relias. If you request a day off, a vacation day, or anything else special it is an automatic denial if your Relias is not completed. This is our entire facility policy and true for all departments. It has worked wonders for compliance

llg, PhD, RN · Feb 15, 2018

We use relias. If you request a day off, a vacation day, or anything else special it is an automatic denial if your Relias is not completed. This is our entire facility policy and true for all departments. It has worked wonders for compliance

That sounds like a good idea. There needs to be a negative consequence of not meeting the expectations. That sounds like a pretty effective negative consequence.

extremenurse4u · Feb 16, 2018

At my facility, if you do not complete your Relias, than its an automatic write up and you have a time period to complete it. There is no 2nd or 3rd option, its part of the job and its mandatory. If you do get a write d/t not completing your Relias, you are off the schedule and cannot return until its completed. There is no 2nd chance, the next time its even an issue, you are fired.

Nascar nurse, ASN, RN · Feb 16, 2018

At my facility, if you do not complete your Relias, than its an automatic write up and you have a time period to complete it. There is no 2nd or 3rd option, its part of the job and its mandatory. If you do get a write d/t not completing your Relias, you are off the schedule and cannot return until its completed. There is no 2nd chance, the next time its even an issue, you are fired.

Oh my - in my little bitty rural community I don't have enough qualified applicants as it is to be that harsh. I'd be out of staff in no time.

extremenurse4u · Feb 16, 2018

Oh my - in my little bitty rural community I don't have enough qualified applicants as it is to be that harsh. I'd be out of staff in no time.

Apparently its not harsh because its working. We are in a small town, rural area too. I have a group of friends that will meet up for coffee or something and working on Relias together.

llg, PhD, RN · Feb 16, 2018

The size of the community makes no difference. If your jobs are good, desirable jobs ... people will meet the expectations necessary to keep those jobs as long as those expectations are reasonable. However, if you don't make them mandatory, there will always be people who won't do them -- because they don't have to.

Don't fall into the trap of being so grateful to your staff for showing up that you are willing to tolerate any and all bad behavior from them and afraid to discipline them for anything. That's never a good way to run business.

It's called "holding people accountable for their actions" -- and a good employer does it.

QuietIsntAWord · Feb 17, 2018

At my workplace, every year we are eligible for a raise, but only if we went to 75% of the meetings held. That's a huge incentive for us.

LockportRN · Jan 23, 2019

I wonder how this turned out for you as this is an old post.

We had to be creative with this one but came up with several different solutions.

First, there are many that are mandatory for employment, and all new employees are made aware of this upon orientation.

I would hold monthly nurses meetings which normally included some form of CE which counted towards their totals. My ADON would hold monthly CNA meetings and did the same.

As to the more regular CE's, I made packets and placed in pockets on a board in the breakroom. These included basic educational materials along with a short post-test. These could be done during break time, taken home, done before shift etc. Once the test was completed, we checked this CE off of each individuals annual CE list. Easy to see who is compliant and who is not.

The most fun was holding an annual competency fair. All management staff choose subjects that pertained to them, including dietary, maintenance, nursing etc. This would be held for 2 days from 8am to 5 or 6pm. Tables were set-up in the dining room (small facility. patient's would either eat in the smaller dining room or would be served in their rooms for the 2 days with plenty of notice given to residents and families). Notices were places several weeks ahead of time to allow staff to plan accordingly. The beauty of this process is that it was hands on...and open all day and they could decide which table to go to in the order they wished. It helped the night shift to get it done without having to wake up and come in, afternoon shift could come in early and day shift could do some throughout the day or stay late.

Each department had their own annual CE requirements and gave a list to each of their employees in that department a list that was to be completed by the end of the 2 days and returned to the manager.

We also used the therapy department (safe transfers with return demonstration, feeding, oral care etc by ST), the fire department (fire safety and awareness. We would use up all the old fire extinguishers outside. A plus here because the fire department knew they trained our people and would sign off their education and we never got tagged for out of date equipment!). I would also use vendors (Hospice, agencies) to spend the day and offer classes which they were happy to do.

A station was also set-up to complete TB's, Hep B's etc. Also, we gave out small prizes and had snack tables to encourage completion. The really nice thing was it could be done on the employees time frame. They really got to know management and management got to know them. As it was a 'facility wide' event, all employees from all departments got to interact and bond in ways that is normally not done.

I'm sure you have found your way. I just remember how much I liked this part of my job and guess I just wanted to share!