Sharing Ideas

You might consider a "needs assessment". Look carefully for a good tool, as people often confuse "need' and "want". But a needs assessment can help you plan for months to come.

Also, talk to your Risk Managment officer and/or Quality Director. Core Measures, patient safety goals, any deficits your facility had in the last survey, trends in med errors, variance reports ---- there is a lot out there and this communication opens lots of doors. You are there to promote your facility,not your department, so find out what they need. Even administration has ideas on business plan for the year. Include Marketing dept. I have 22 projects right now and most are based on suggestions from others.

Tell me more about this "needs assessment," it sounds like what I need to do. I've got to set up an orientation-type program for experienced ICU nurses (new to swans, pulling sheaths, post intervention cath lab and open heart.) I am unfamiliar with the current staff (I'm in the same hospital but I'm from a totally different dept) and don't want to offend anyone by teaching way under or over their heads. Nor do I want to give them a pre-test to determine their knowlwdge base. I had to take one of these tests in the past and was totally offended. Where can I find a sample needs assessment? Thanks!

Sorry, I don't have one to share. I Googled one off the Internet but now tend to use the comments section of evaluation forms from all the classes we have. As for teaching, get help. I coordinate as much as I teach. The clinical ladder nurses are looking for ways to get hours. I include preceptors (most are clinical ladder anyway). We have inter-facility email, so I have the preceptors on a mailing list and ask their input frequently. I go to committee meetings (Safety, Trauma, Patient Satisfaction, etc.). If there is a college/Univ. nearby you might go to the library to look at nursing textbooks. That is how I found one needs assessment sample, then copied it and adapted for my use.