The poster session at the 2016 Association for Nursing Professional Development (ANPD) convention in Pittsburgh, PA, featured examples of innovative nursing professional development (NPD) practices. There is much to learn from our colleagues via professional poster displays. In this special feature, four winning posters and their corresponding abstracts are highlighted, including the recipient of the new Participants' Choice Award. We acknowledge all who participated in this year's poster session and congratulate these winners.
First Place: Gina Kirk, MSN, RN-BC, Nurse Manager, Bryn Mawr Hospital, Bryn Mawr, PA, and Jennifer Cummins Muner, MSN, RN-BC, CEN, Lead Clinical Nurse Educator and Clinical Nurse Educator Emergency Department, Riddle Hospital, Media, PA
"Tackling Tiers to Ensure Successful New Graduate Nurse Role Transition"
Clinical orientation for new graduate nurses in an acute care hospital is a critical time. Anecdotal feedback from key stakeholders indicated that new graduate nurses may not be fully prepared to transition into the role of the professional nurse. There was no formal process to guide the preceptor in determining priority areas of focus, or when and how to proceed through orientation. Upon reviewing the literature, there is a small sample of articles related to improving retention rates through a tiered orientation approach; however, no literature was found to support that a tiered orientation program can facilitate the new graduate nurses' competence attainment, job satisfaction, or development of clinical judgment. A tiered orientation approach to clinical orientation was proposed, and this quality improvement project was approved by the organization's institutional review board. A pilot was implemented to compare the existing clinical orientation process to a tiered orientation program. The tiered program included four specific competencies that the new nurse would need to fully complete prior to moving to the next tier. The goal of the tiered orientation was not to increase the length of orientation but to allow for flexibility to move through orientation at an individual pace, a consistent approach on how to advance through orientation and to help foster clinical judgment. The Lasater Clinical Judgment Rubric was used with permission to evaluate orientees' clinical judgment. A program evaluation was used to evaluate preceptor and new nurse satisfaction with the tiered clinical orientation. The findings included that a tiered orientation versus our traditional approach resulted in clinical judgment being fostered earlier in the orientation process; a more structured guide for orientation, allowing nurses to progress at their own individual pace; and nurse residents focusing on basic nursing competencies before advancing, allowing for more confidence in patient care management. (Figure 1).
Second Place: Beth M. Kilmoyer, DNP, MS, RN-BC, Nursing Informatics Manager, and Monica A. Nelson, MSN, RN-BC, Professional Development Specialist at Mercy Medical Center, Baltimore, MD
"Exemplifying the Value of NPD Through Demonstrated Outcomes"
In today's changing healthcare environment, all products and services must provide value, including the NPD department. The department must align with strategic initiatives of the organization, nursing division, and clinical unit while keeping current with the external influences on nursing practice.
In an urban community hospital, the nursing strategic plan is based on its professional practice model, which is the foundation for all nursing practices and services within the organization. This poster features the process used by the NPD department to enhance this alignment. Completing a cross-walk and assigning tactics of the strategic plan to members of the NPD team resulted in alignment of departmental services and met the needs of the nursing division. Individual members of the NPD department were assigned tactics based on their interests, talents, and expertise. In the NPD department, a systematic and evaluative method was created, demonstrating return on investment through the meeting of strategic goals.
A Dashboard of Success was created to prioritize and evaluate strategic goals. Changes to educational initiatives showed an improvement in clinical staff satisfaction. In addition, programs were created demonstrating improvements in the healthcare experience for patients and families. The NPD department is constantly seeking new and innovative methods to inspire a positive change, influence organizational culture, and demonstrate value to the organization. (Figure 2).
Third Place: Lisa M. Langdale, MSN, RN-BC, Director, Clinical Excellence Education, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC
"Make the Leap: From the Nursing Professional Development Scope and Standards of Practice to a Position Description"
NPD leadership is accountable to ensure that position descriptions of NPD staff accurately reflect the comprehensive role of the NPD specialist as outlined in the 2010 Nursing Staff Development and American Nurses Association's Nursing Professional Development: Scope and Standards of Practice. A position description written from a task-oriented perspective does not reflect the depth of knowledge, expertise, and skill required for the NPD specialist in today's dynamic healthcare environment. NPD leadership must accurately articulate the extensive scope of responsibilities that encompass the NPD specialist role in addition to the traditional "educator" scope. In addition, it is the responsibility of NPD leadership to set an expectation for the minimum education and certification requirements for an NPD specialist role. These minimum requirements should be reflected in the position description as a starting point for recruitment. This poster featured the NPD specialist position description as a tool for NPD leadership to design succession planning within the organization. The position description outlined the full scope of the role, and specific knowledge and skill sets required of a NPD specialist. It provides the framework for nursing staff to plan to progress into a NPD specialist role. (Figure 3).
Participants' Choice: Sarah Woolwine, MSN, RN-BC, PCCN, Nurse Educator, KentuckyOne Health-Jewish Hospital, Louisville, KY
"But No One Ever Told Me That! Using Gamification to Promote Learning, Retention, and Inquiry"
NPD practitioners facilitate nurses' learning of essential knowledge and skills with the goal of safe and effective care for patients. A challenge NPD practitioners face is how to make educational content memorable and meaningful. Gamification is one method to do so. Gamification is not a new concept and is not appropriate for every learning situation. It is not simply adding a game to the learning experience: It is the effective use of game elements. This poster featured examples of game elements including rules, storytelling, feedback, aesthetics, competition, levels, and rewards (Kapp, 2012). When these elements are applied in a learning situation, the learning experience can be enhanced and students are more likely to retain and use the information. This poster provided examples of how gamification techniques have been implemented in NPD practice. (Figure 4).
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