Accelerating to Practice(TM) (A2P), developed by the National League for Nursing (NLN) and Laerdal Medical, will be launched at the NLN Education Summit 2016. Designed to prepare the new nurse for practice, the program is aligned to the NLN mission to promote excellence in nursing education to build a strong and diverse workforce to advance the health of the nation and the global community. For the NLN, the move to create a more substantial link between education and practice by delivering services to practice partners is essential for advancing the health of the nation. For Laerdal, the program fits with the company's mission to save lives by improving the quality and safety of new nurse practice. Both partners are committed to a product that will support professional nurse educators, managers, and preceptors in their efforts to provide high quality orientation programs. The program will be available for selected early adopters, at a reduced price, in 2017.
Benefits of the program include the following:
1. State-of-the-art, evidence-based educational modalities, developed by NLN experts, that engage novice nurses in active learning;
2. Learning resources that address all types of learners, not just those who learn through lecture and demonstration;
3. Educational modalities that specifically target essential practice competencies required for effective practice by nurses in a team-based hospital environment.
OVERVIEW
As new nurses enter the world of professional practice, the excitement of beginning their new career can quickly be replaced by uncertainty. The realities of daily nursing practice in the complex world of health care are challenging - and even overwhelming at times. New graduates struggle with lack of self-confidence, difficulty in clinical reasoning and communication, and the need to organize and prioritize patient care responsibilities (Saintsing, Gibson, & Pennington, 2011). It is estimated that 18 percent will leave their first job within one year and 34 percent within two years (Kovner, Brewer, Fatehi & Jun, 2015).
The NLN, together with Laerdal Medical, recognized that preparing novice nurses for practice and guiding the new graduate nurse through transition to practice demand that academic and practice-based educators use transformative strategies to develop clinical reasoning skills at the bedside. Through the use of newly developed platforms for enhancing clinical reasoning, communication, and professionalism competencies, as well as simulation and debriefing, professional nurse educators, preceptors, and nurse managers will target performance gaps and apply coaching strategies.
THE A2P CURRICULUM
A2P is founded on a mixed-methodology curriculum framed by five concepts with related competencies and observable performance measures that are incorporated into a dashboard for effective retrieval: Communication, Clinical Knowledge, Clinical Reasoning, Management of Responsibilities, and Professionalism. The learning strategies that are used include virtual simulations, manikin-based simulation, and interactive video role-playing exercises. The program provides consulting, training services, and product installation.
Consulting services aid in assessing current orientation processes and readiness for building a high quality orientation program, including how the program will incorporate A2P educational modalities and how the staff will implement simulation. Training offerings for orientation staff (professional nurse educators, managers, and preceptors) include the use of product/system components and workshops on implementing the A2P coaching model, simulation foundations, debriefing, and evaluation. Product installation services include the implementation of a learning management system and setup for educational modalities.
The effectiveness of learning is evaluated through performance measures embedded in a computer-based learning management system. All users have access to learning and performance measures using the A2P Program Dashboard, which provides a visual summary of the new nurse's evolving performance in all concepts and related competencies.
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