Staff Development & Training

llg, PhD, RN · Jan 27, 2018

In addition to using pre-existing educational resources ... I strongly recommend that you learn to make some of your own -- tailored to the needs of your staff. Also, learn as much as you can about the nursing specialty of Nursing Professional Development (NPD). NPD is the nursing specialty that focuses on the orientation of new staff members and on-going education for existing staff. The national organization for that specialty (ANPD) has lots of resources for new staff educators to learn about the specialty and to develop the skills needed to assess staff needs and meet them. There are books, online courses, frequent webinars, etc. to choose from -- all designed on how to be a good staff development educator. That's where I recommend you start.

Welcome to the NPD specialty!

CoffeeRTC, BSN, RN · Jan 29, 2018

Jumping in and following this thread too!

I'm just trying to read up on everything and trying to wrap my head around the new regs and competencies that will need to be done.

Neats, BSN · Jan 29, 2018

I use one note. This program is a life saver. I can have meeting notes all under one tab, look up past meeting and what we did...wonderful tickler file. The list goes on and on. One Note is your friend.

I also recommend you break things down into small chunks and delegate to staff when you can/should you are not alone so reach out for staff assistance. Example lets say there are 5 new changes for the next 3 months have a staff member study one change (for a total of 5 staff members) and present at a meeting. Do not let the staff have a choice about research and teaching...only the subject. Act as the advisor and have them come to you at least 3 times while researching to give you updates prior to their presentation at the very least. You will be surprised how people care and step up and how they can become Subject Matter Experts (SME's). I have always allowed CNA's to participate as well, they have taught hand washing, have taught basic skin checks, what to do and who to notify when you see something wrong in the facility, how to approach a Alzheimer's patient, it is not out of their scope of practice as we want them to look at skin and notify licensed nurses, we want them to be able to respond when there is something wrong, and most certainly we want them to and all of us to wash our hands. Although I cannot give extra pay I always seem to allow for that SME to leave an hour early here and there (perk of the job).

Besides the usually annual mandatory in-services we usually have an additional 6-12 in-services that the staff have picked as their choice to learn more about. At the end of the year I send out a survey of any new/any review education that they wish they could learn more about. Some times it is very specific sometime very broad. One time I had the ombudsman come in and talk about what they do. It was treated as an in-service as we had learning and a 5 question T/F quiz.

Lastly there are a great deal of in-service material out there by professional associations, by webinar (think CVS) or even locally. Try the universities and colleges students who are in their 3rd or 4th year love being able to teach something they have learned and it makes a great marketing tool as well.