Nurse Buy-In

luvschoolnursing, LPN · Aug 5, 2008

Way back when in the 1980's when I had my first nursing job, they had an education day once a year. you went all day, had multiple inservices and competentcy reviews, etc. You were given a nice lunch and it counted as one of your days worked. I don't think any amount of snacks or awards would make me come in on my day off. I never worked for another hospital that did that.

I'm sure that's probably not the answer you want, because your hospital probably won't pay for it, but it was really nice.

nrsklly · Aug 6, 2008

Thanks for your reply. We do something similar to keep up with annual competencies, calling it "nursing re-orientation." Being mandatory, they get paid 4 hours. I got the idea of candy/snacks from when I worked at Cedars Sinai in LA. They had a CHF nurse educator who would do a quick in-service and verbal pop quizzes, throwing out candy for those who participated. I worked for me! :) If anyone else has any good suggestions to catch the ear of a busy RN, let me know!

SWEnfermera · Aug 6, 2008

I totally understand what you're saying. When I worked as a Staff Educator I had the same problem. I can also understand where the staff is coming from. Many have to commute an hour or more to work, and if they have to come in for an hour workshop on their day off- it doesn't make any sense.

What I found helpful was to make competency day a full 8 hours, and schedule it as one of their days worked. Many hospitals now offer annual competencies on-line thru "Healthstreams" or some other format. During our competency day I focused on "High-Risk, Low-Volume Procedures" and "New" equipment, procedures, meds, policies, etc. For this, you have to have "Buy In" from the manger or who ever is responsible for making the schedule. You may have to repeat the workshop around 4 times in order to get everyone scheduled. Also, the manager needs to understand the importance of competency days and may need to back-fill the holes in her/his schedule with overtime so everyone can attend.

For short in-services I offered 1 CEU classes either before or following the monthly staff meeting. At our hospital, staff were required to attend 8 of the 12 monthly staff meetings, or it was reflected on their annual evaluations. Since many attended the staff meetings, I took advantage of this opportunity for learning.

HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD · Aug 6, 2008

Nrsklly,

Hey, we've all been there! Loved dragging all the 'stuff' in at 2 AM and not having anyone show up to the inservice I spent weeks preparing!! :banghead:

As an education 'silverback', I would encourage you to try new delivery methods if the old traditional "inservices" are not cutting it. There are many ways to deliver new knowledge.

One of the major challenges for anyone who learned about education via On-the-job training is that you only learn what you're exposed to..... if this is the case for you, it would be a good idea to see what else is out there.

I would really recommend any book or article by Donna Wright - she's a nurse education GURU who advocates using a wide variety of instructional methods.

BTW, I manage HealthStream and other eLearning platforms for my organization. We do love it, but it isn't the only delivery method we use. We are even moving into simulation labs now. But we still use traditional classroom methods when it makes sense to do so.

nrsklly · Aug 6, 2008

For short in-services I offered 1 CEU classes either before or following the monthly staff meeting. At our hospital, staff were required to attend 8 of the 12 monthly staff meetings, or it was reflected on their annual evaluations. Since many attended the staff meetings, I took advantage of this opportunity for learning.

I love that idea! Using staff meetings as an opportunity for learning. I guess now my battle will be getting the directors to change their staff meeting requirements... :no:

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Aug 8, 2008

ANCC allows one-half hour as the minimum contact hour you may offer. So if your provider unit is thru ANCC or an accredited approver of ANCC then you may offer 30-minute CNE's. I have not found that CNE's make it more palatable, however. Learning theories state that adults learn when they pay attention and will not pay attention unless they are interested or are motivated in some way, like the realization they will need this info later. So the secret seems to be getting the learner motivated. This makes it MY responsibility to come up with objectives and content that appeal to most learners. I try not to over-do inservices, because people do not appreciate it. Also, I keep records of what they requested and make sure the learners are told "Per the request of the ICU nurses we are presenting -----". Otherwise I look like I am coming up with stuff just to justify my job. Like I need a reason, right? Anybody heard of JC?

HazeKomp, BSN, RN · Aug 12, 2008

After 26 years at the bedside in L&D, I was offered a position as a Perinatal Nurse Educator...and I turned it down.

Why? Because so many of my peers are so apathetic about learning!

It did not seem like much fun having the job of shoving information down the throats of staff who do not care OR are so busy, that one more trip to the hospital for a meeting is more than they can do!

You folks are brave! :bow:

mjick · Oct 25, 2008

You said that you worked for Cedars before. How did you find the working environment there? Is their new grad training program a great program? How do staff and preceptors treat newbies? Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks.

nrsklly · Oct 26, 2008

You said that you worked for Cedars before. How did you find the working environment there? Is their new grad training program a great program? How do staff and preceptors treat newbies? Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks.

I was actually a new grad at Cedars. I love it because of all the specialties you get exposure to. The docs were a little intimidating, but I had a great experience with the nurses. If I had to do things over again, I'd definitely begin there.

scarlett o'hairy · Oct 27, 2008

I don't know if the following would be practical for you in your facility, but when I was the clinical educator, I had a cardinal rule NEVER to do inservices at change of shift. It might get the most people, but the retention (or appreciation) is rarely there!

I also instituted a staff education white board/cork board, posted it in the nurses station, and tried to keep it fun. I would post a question every other day (eg: "What antibiotic, if rapidly infused, is associated with Red Man syndrome?"). Sometimes I would do the word of the day (eg: "intraosseous") or post what I called "From The Good to Know Files:" and post a blurb about a policy or a new piece of equipment. A pack of gum or a candy bar was the incentive - so small, but it worked! Keeping the board fresh and updated was fun for me, and interesting but non-threatening for the staff. In fact, some of the staff started submitting their own questions/words of the week.

I wish you luck with your endeavors! :nurse: