OR Specific Basic Preceptor Course Value Added Impact
My passion for practice excellence and quality precepting can be assessed and measured throughout my portfolio, specifically within the OR preceptor project. The positive effect the project has generated to care for our patients in addition to supporting new and experienced staff in the OR is evident. Much of the work I have completed is entwined within UCHealth’s mission, vision and values as well as the nursing profession as a whole. By investing my practice to learning and discovery, I was enabled to create an innovative course to support and sustain OR preceptorship practices in the promotion of holistic health and healing. Therefore, looking ahead, it can be seen that my OR preceptorship project will maintain an influential role in preparing OR staff to improve the lives of our patients and uphold a positive impact on both UCHealth and the nursing profession.
Project Impact on UCH Standards of Excellence and Engaged Workforce
The impact of my OR preceptorship project can be applied and assessed in terms of the UCHealth’s Standards of Excellence. These standards include the five metrics of: Service, Quality, Team, Personal and Communication. These five metrics are utilized throughout the UCHealth system as a construct for best practice. This document is accessible for review on the HUB and is provided below for immediate reference. The primary goal for the OR preceptorship project was to provide opportunity for others to fulfill these metrics for preceptorship practice via unit specific training and support. Therefore, to assess the impact of the staff reported outcomes from the OR Specific Preceptor course and my own personal engagement in preceptorship practices, please review the core metric “Quality.” Under “Quality” two key bullet points address my project work directly. It is evident that I intently sought out to understand and improve the core measures, quality metrics, best practices and employee engagement measures related to preceptorship in the OR. Secondly, it can be measured through survey analysis that I also identified an opportunity and solution to service and safely improve OR preceptorship practices within my unit and am proud to assume the accountability for my project’s success.
To further explore core measures and employee engagement factors, research by Wagner (2006) supports seven core practices of an engaged workforce. Wagner states “employee engagement predicts job satisfaction and intent to stay” (Wagner, 2006). The OR Specific Preceptor course specifically, as well as my participation in the unit driven preceptor council, fosters my "intent to stay" and can be further evaluated by reviewing four of these seven core measures in addition to the UCH Standard of Excellence, “Quality”. The four core measures I would like to address in relation to my contributions to our quality metric are: "establishing an open learning environment", "nourish teams and networks", "generate a sense of community" and "embrace personal strengths". (Wagner, 2006). I embraced my personal strengths to seek out and improve core measures, quality metrics, best practices and employee engagement measures by nourishing the team and networking of OR preceptors. By identifying an opportunity for improvement I also established an open learning environment to generate a sense of community and confidence for OR preceptors to safely practice. Data that supports the implementation and achievement of the "Quality" metric and these core measures can be assessed by reviewing question #7 of the OR Specific Basic Preceptor Course post-certification survey (please refer to Transformational Leadership section).
Question #7 of the OR Specific Basic Preceptor Survey prompts the learner to address any additional comments/concerns related to the OR Specific Basic Preceptor Course through free-text response. Trending themes of the free-text survey results reveal the learners found the course organized, OR specific, consistent, prepared and qualified. One such learner states, “This course was organized. Enjoyed the open discussion and resources to use in the classroom. Very OR specific, quality course” (Anonymous, 2015). A second learner shares, “I felt the class helps define preceptorship to preceptors who are new in the OR. The OR is a specific place to learn so having a class to teach preceptorship focused on the OR is beneficial in my opinion” (Anonymous, 2015). These responses directly address "Quality" as well as highlighting how I enabled an open learning environment through discussion and nourished the team and networking of preceptors through defining OR preceptorship.
In addition to core measures, Wagner states there are the ten common factors of highly engaged nurses. Of these ten, there are four main factors that best correlate with my practice as well as the OR Specific Preceptor course. These three factors are “the organization values me,” “the organization values employee ideas and opinions” and “the organization encourages and supports innovation” (Wagner, 2006). It is evident that UCH values me and my career by providing the opportunity to pursue professional advancement through the credentialing process. Secondly, from the start my project was based on discontent with our precepting practices and unit climate as noted by staff members. A survey was done as part of the FOCUS PDCA, as a way to address employee ideas and opinions to create a targeted intervention, the components of which were suggest by the staff (please refer to New Knowledge section). Lastly, it is measurable that my innovative preceptorship project was supported and encouraged by my unit leadership and management through maintaining roles as project stakeholders and advocating for additional scheduling of the course, as evidenced by the course approval communication chain (please refer to Transformational Leadership section). The nature of my project also supports a fourth factor which is “supervisors understand key issues” (Wagner, 2006). Throughout my project it was critical to work with leadership, specifically the charge nurses to get staff “out of rooms” to attend my class, meaning scheduling and teamwork was a factor in this project and staff preceptorship success.
To further explore core measures and employee engagement factors, research by Wagner (2006) supports seven core practices of an engaged workforce. Wagner states “employee engagement predicts job satisfaction and intent to stay” (Wagner, 2006). The OR Specific Preceptor course specifically, as well as my participation in the unit driven preceptor council, fosters my "intent to stay" and can be further evaluated by reviewing four of these seven core measures in addition to the UCH Standard of Excellence, “Quality”. The four core measures I would like to address in relation to my contributions to our quality metric are: "establishing an open learning environment", "nourish teams and networks", "generate a sense of community" and "embrace personal strengths". (Wagner, 2006). I embraced my personal strengths to seek out and improve core measures, quality metrics, best practices and employee engagement measures by nourishing the team and networking of OR preceptors. By identifying an opportunity for improvement I also established an open learning environment to generate a sense of community and confidence for OR preceptors to safely practice. Data that supports the implementation and achievement of the "Quality" metric and these core measures can be assessed by reviewing question #7 of the OR Specific Basic Preceptor Course post-certification survey (please refer to Transformational Leadership section).
Question #7 of the OR Specific Basic Preceptor Survey prompts the learner to address any additional comments/concerns related to the OR Specific Basic Preceptor Course through free-text response. Trending themes of the free-text survey results reveal the learners found the course organized, OR specific, consistent, prepared and qualified. One such learner states, “This course was organized. Enjoyed the open discussion and resources to use in the classroom. Very OR specific, quality course” (Anonymous, 2015). A second learner shares, “I felt the class helps define preceptorship to preceptors who are new in the OR. The OR is a specific place to learn so having a class to teach preceptorship focused on the OR is beneficial in my opinion” (Anonymous, 2015). These responses directly address "Quality" as well as highlighting how I enabled an open learning environment through discussion and nourished the team and networking of preceptors through defining OR preceptorship.
In addition to core measures, Wagner states there are the ten common factors of highly engaged nurses. Of these ten, there are four main factors that best correlate with my practice as well as the OR Specific Preceptor course. These three factors are “the organization values me,” “the organization values employee ideas and opinions” and “the organization encourages and supports innovation” (Wagner, 2006). It is evident that UCH values me and my career by providing the opportunity to pursue professional advancement through the credentialing process. Secondly, from the start my project was based on discontent with our precepting practices and unit climate as noted by staff members. A survey was done as part of the FOCUS PDCA, as a way to address employee ideas and opinions to create a targeted intervention, the components of which were suggest by the staff (please refer to New Knowledge section). Lastly, it is measurable that my innovative preceptorship project was supported and encouraged by my unit leadership and management through maintaining roles as project stakeholders and advocating for additional scheduling of the course, as evidenced by the course approval communication chain (please refer to Transformational Leadership section). The nature of my project also supports a fourth factor which is “supervisors understand key issues” (Wagner, 2006). Throughout my project it was critical to work with leadership, specifically the charge nurses to get staff “out of rooms” to attend my class, meaning scheduling and teamwork was a factor in this project and staff preceptorship success.
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Project Impact on Nursing Profession
In recent years there has been a call for nursing to be sustainable and innovative in the way it approaches education. This call has come from Patricia Benner, who also authored From Novice to Expert: Excellence and Power in Clinical Nursing Practice (1984). The creation of the OR Specific Preceptor course not only stems from this call but also correlates with the many ideas and components from Patricia Benner’s recent call in her book Educating Nurses: A call for radical transformation (2010).
The methods Benner suggests to bring about this radical transformation are supported in the content and framework I developed for the OR Specific Preceptor Course. For example, the OR Specific Basic Preceptor Course serves to, “improve the work environment for staff nurses and supports them in learning how to teach” (Benner et. al, 2010, p. 226). This is substantiated by the OR Specific Basic Preceptor Post-Certification Professional Resources survey analysis of Question #1 (please refer to Transformational Leadership section). Question #1 results from both course dates display that the majority of the learners consider the standard of excellence in relation to the course objectives meeting the course purpose. Therefore, it can be assessed that primary objective of the course through development of a work environment directly focused and supporting the OR preceptor was achieved through the implementation of the course. This course was also created concurrently with evidence-based practice and meets the call to deliver what Benner states as “robust, ongoing development for all who educate” (Benner et. al, 2010, p.226). This call is supported by the survey analysis from Question #2 in the OR Specific Basic Preceptor Course Post-Certification Professional Resources Survey (please refer to Transformational Leadership section). The survey results demonstrate the learners unanimously agree that excellent instructions were provided for both for the online modules and the classroom session. Implementing this blended-course style design supports ongoing and innovative development Benner addresses to keep our industry both modernized and efficient.
The OR Specific Basic Preceptor Course also focuses on teaching for a sense of what Benner addresses as “salience, situated cognition and action in particular situations” (Benner, 2010, p. 82). This was accomplished by integrating “narrative strategies and narrative thinking” (Benner, 2010, p. 225), otherwise known as facilitated discussion scenarios based on actual clinical occurrences in precepting situations. Data to support attainment of this can be measured via the analysis of Question #6 of the OR Specific Basic Preceptor Course Post-Certification Professional Resources Survey (please refer to Transformational Leadership section). It is noted in the results analysis from both course sessions that the learners unanimously selected that the case studies/facilitated discussion scenarios (or narratives) were an excellent tool to prepare/support the preceptor role.
In summary, it is apparent that the implementation of my innovative OR Specific Basic Preceptor Course maintains a sustainable value added impact for both UCHealth as well as the nursing professional. The application of this course coincides with the success platform of the hospital through actively integrating Standards of Excellence as well as excelling to reflect core measures of an engaged workforce. The course implementation also answers the professional call for the transformation of nursing education and practice by dynamically changing the nature and settings of how to educate and train OR preceptors.
The methods Benner suggests to bring about this radical transformation are supported in the content and framework I developed for the OR Specific Preceptor Course. For example, the OR Specific Basic Preceptor Course serves to, “improve the work environment for staff nurses and supports them in learning how to teach” (Benner et. al, 2010, p. 226). This is substantiated by the OR Specific Basic Preceptor Post-Certification Professional Resources survey analysis of Question #1 (please refer to Transformational Leadership section). Question #1 results from both course dates display that the majority of the learners consider the standard of excellence in relation to the course objectives meeting the course purpose. Therefore, it can be assessed that primary objective of the course through development of a work environment directly focused and supporting the OR preceptor was achieved through the implementation of the course. This course was also created concurrently with evidence-based practice and meets the call to deliver what Benner states as “robust, ongoing development for all who educate” (Benner et. al, 2010, p.226). This call is supported by the survey analysis from Question #2 in the OR Specific Basic Preceptor Course Post-Certification Professional Resources Survey (please refer to Transformational Leadership section). The survey results demonstrate the learners unanimously agree that excellent instructions were provided for both for the online modules and the classroom session. Implementing this blended-course style design supports ongoing and innovative development Benner addresses to keep our industry both modernized and efficient.
The OR Specific Basic Preceptor Course also focuses on teaching for a sense of what Benner addresses as “salience, situated cognition and action in particular situations” (Benner, 2010, p. 82). This was accomplished by integrating “narrative strategies and narrative thinking” (Benner, 2010, p. 225), otherwise known as facilitated discussion scenarios based on actual clinical occurrences in precepting situations. Data to support attainment of this can be measured via the analysis of Question #6 of the OR Specific Basic Preceptor Course Post-Certification Professional Resources Survey (please refer to Transformational Leadership section). It is noted in the results analysis from both course sessions that the learners unanimously selected that the case studies/facilitated discussion scenarios (or narratives) were an excellent tool to prepare/support the preceptor role.
In summary, it is apparent that the implementation of my innovative OR Specific Basic Preceptor Course maintains a sustainable value added impact for both UCHealth as well as the nursing professional. The application of this course coincides with the success platform of the hospital through actively integrating Standards of Excellence as well as excelling to reflect core measures of an engaged workforce. The course implementation also answers the professional call for the transformation of nursing education and practice by dynamically changing the nature and settings of how to educate and train OR preceptors.
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**All the survey questions analysis comments cited in the paragraphs above are from the OR Specific Basic Preceptor Courses held on 3/28/2015 & 5/28/2015. To review this data, graphs and analysis as a whole and in original format please refer to Transformational Leadership: Unit/Organizational Project.