Ideas for Skills Labs in Long Term Care

[love2banurse89, BSN, RN]

I've been the Director of Clinical Education in a long-term care facility for 4 months and love my job! I'm setting up a skills lab for the first part of Feb, for all staff, with specific competencies to check off for nursing, CNAs, non-clinical staff, etc.

Morale/teamwork/organization/time management is low here; we've had a lot of turnover as most places, I think. Staff were (and still are) reluctant to attend inservices & have many excuses, but I'm being positive, providing snacks and prizes, and making the inservices informative and dare I say, fun? Gradually a few more staff members are coming and with the new year we will be more firm about making inservices mandatory and writing people up if they do not attend.

I have a lot of ideas for the skills lab and setting up a couple of empty rooms so staff can practice and look for things like safety hazards, infection control, etc.

I'd love to hear from those of you with more experience -- both ideas for how to set up the skills lab AND to motivate staff and promote teamwork and a more positive atmosphere.

Thanks for any input!

[dsnyder]

A skills lab area sounds great! Will this be permanent or just for a set period of time. Our staff is planning more of a competency fair where staff is to visit various set up areas. There is a lot to choose from. I would start with equipment..lifts, EKG, Doppler, wound vacs, IV pumps, feeding pumps, dynamaps. THen look at common diagnosis competencies.

Good luck! Please post how it went!