INTRODUCTION

In the late 1980s, the World Health Organization published a workshop manual that emphasized the need for continuing education for healthcare staff; this need is driven by healthcare policy changes and the constant evolution of new medical techniques and equipment to respond to society's healthcare needs.1 Since then, many associations and individuals have publically advocated the need for continuing education among healthcare workers.2-5 Staying up to date in our field of practice not only impacts quality of care but also enables the healthcare professional to feel more confident and skilled. This is especially true when topics are closely related to the individual's clinical focus and when education is offered by colleagues recognized for their expertise within the specialty.6

However, many nurses working in hospital settings are not regularly participating in educational activities because of limited financial allocation for such activities, and they often do not ensure staff are able to receive education during their working hours unless the education is mandated by a provincial body.7 Despite this limitation, multiple factors compel nurses to engage in continuing education. For example, the Quebec Provincial Order of Nurses has incorporated continuing education obligations for its members,8 and the Canadian Nurses Association had identified continuing education as a means for maintaining specialty certification in a number of areas, including enterostomal therapy specialty practice.9

Healthcare organizations are not exempt from this obligation of supporting educational initiatives. They must provide continuing education for healthcare professionals to ensure they pass compliance testing for certain required organizational practices, such as those pertaining to pressure injury prevention.10 These required organizational practices are dictated by Accreditation Canada, with a mandate to ensure an ongoing process of assessing healthcare organizations against standards to identify what is done well, where improvements can be made, and processes to make them happen.10

How then does one reach out to and motivate staff? I find it increasingly difficult to convince staff to attend a lunchtime presentation. This CAET Feature addresses one possible strategy, reaching out to colleagues directly in the units where they work via a kiosk that moves from unit to unit. Based on my experiences attending similar educational offerings, I designed a focused educational session, delivered in 10 to 15 minutes, on a specific aspect of Enterostomal Therapy Nurse (ETN) practice, pressure injury-related care.

KIOSK FORMAT

In 2014, a 250-bed Francophone academic acute care teaching hospital in Eastern Ontario, designated as a Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO) Best Practice Spotlight Organization (BPSO), developed an educational program using the kiosk format to address the RNAO best practice guideline Risk Assessment and Prevention of Pressure Ulcers.11 BPSOs are healthcare and academic organizations that have succeeded in implementing RNAO's best practice guidelines. This dynamic partnership focuses on making a positive impact on patient care through evidence-based daily practice. It provides support to organizations that have formally agreed to implement some of the RNAO's best practice guidelines.12 When institutions are members of initiatives like the RNAO's BPSO, unit-based champion nurses can be engaged in special educational activities for their own colleagues, which increases their commitment to stay up to date. Maintaining the BPSO designation encourages an organization to invest in continuing education that must be reported regularly to RNAO. The kiosk concept, facilitated by ETNs, helped to raise awareness of pressure injuries among more than 300 staff members (Figure 1). It included a Jeopardy style game with a brief video13 where participants could challenge their pressure injury knowledge by choosing among 9 questions in 3 different categories (Figure 2). In addition, a review of the different stages of pressure injuries was conducted in the form of a cooking show (Figure 3) using real fruits and vegetables, and employing the analogy published by Mackintosh and colleagues.14

Figure 1. Mobile kiosk for educational sessions. Photo courtesy of Martin Sauve.

Figure 2. Video and jeopardy game section of the mobile kiosk. Photo courtesy of Martin Sauve.

Figure 3. Teaching pressure injury staging in the form of a cooking show. Photo courtesy of Martin Sauve.

OUTCOMES

This initiative was deemed successful; nurses who participated in the kiosk-based educational event engaged in follow-up discussions with the interdisciplinary team demonstrating how the cooking show food analogy14 resonated with accurate wound assessments and identification of the appropriate pressure injury stage. We found that healthcare workers were more aware of and inclined to use the teaching material when teaching their patients and families. Experiences with the kiosk encouraged colleagues to develop a similar approach for other topics such as use of a glucose monitoring device, machine, promoting adherence to influenza vaccination, and adoption of a new delirium protocol.

SUMMARY

Continuing education is critical to the maintenance of professional skills, but it continues to be a challenge for both those who provide training and those who receive it. These challenges must be balanced by a growing cadre of obligations imposed by organizations such as Accreditation Canada. I believe that use of a kiosk for education is an effective strategy to engage colleagues in focused educational sessions. The kiosk model requires few resources, reaches learners in their care setting, and is easily adapted to various formats based on the educational objectives of the individual session.

REFERENCES