Enhancing diabetes management while teaching quality improvement methods.

Six medical units realized that they were having issues with accurate timing of bedtime blood glucose measurement for their patients with diabetes. They decided to investigate the issues by using their current staff nurse committee structure. The clinical nurse specialists and nurse education specialists decided to address the issue by educating and engaging the staff in the define, measure, analyze, improve, control (DMAIC) framework process. They found that two issues needed to be improved, including timing of bedtime blood glucose measurement and snack administration and documentation. Several educational interventions were completed and resulted in improved timing of bedtime glucose measurement and bedtime snack documentation. The nurses understood the DMAIC process, and collaboration and cohesion among the medical units was enhanced.

Initiating Virtual Nursing in General Inpatient Care.

ABSTRACT: With increased demands for inpatient care and limited nursing resources, bedside RNs at one health care system were challenged to find experienced nurse colleagues to provide mentorship when they needed assistance in executing best practices. A virtual RN (ViRN) role was created to support bedside RNs and patients on designated general care inpatient units. The ViRN provided real-time virtual clinical guidance to bedside RNs and actively surveilled patients. Bedside RNs were surveyed by email to gauge the utility and their perceptions of integrating ViRNs into the nursing care team. RNs reported that they valued the consistent availability of having the ViRNs' expert nursing knowledge and virtual assistance with nursing tasks.

Correlating novice nurses' perceptions of nursing orientation and first-year support with direct preceptor interventions.

Can preceptors correlate novices' experiences of the transition into nursing with interventions for support? A medical specialty preceptor committee representing more than 300 nurses at a large academic medical center conducted educational sessions for 46 inpatient nurses who had successfully completed orientation, but were still in the first year of practice. The novice forum used literature themes to guide exploration of the novices' perceptions. In the two novice forum sessions, the new nurses were invited to reflect on their experiences using a Turning Point Query(©). The questions posed addressed the themes in the literature concerning the transition into professional practice. After noting and discussing the group responses, each preceptor committee representative held a discussion with two novices about their struggles and successes. The preceptors, after learning about novices' needs in this way, planned and directed forums for preceptor development of their peers. Concepts and teaching activities addressed the novices' identified concerns, which targeted greater need for feedback, affirmation, and debriefing, as well as reflective discussions on practice. This group thus correlated novices' perceptions with preceptor development activities.

A preceptor café: serving up universal values for preceptors.

How do you affirm meaning and articulate values that will serve as the bedrock of a preceptor program? The Medical Specialty Preceptor Committee in a large hospital system planned a series of preceptor forums for 88 medical specialty preceptors. The goals were to renew commitment, refresh vision, and develop strategies for successfully orienting new hires. This study began by examining the work of JoEllen Koerner in her book Healing Presence: The Essence of Nursing. The universal values in her model involve acknowledging and addressing three basic levels: safety needs, relationship needs, and self-esteem needs, encompassing the individual's connection to the external world. The middle level is labeled transformation and goes beyond the first three levels to how the individual expresses the authentic self within the working world. The higher levels involve intuition, intention, and self-actualization and focus on the inner world of the individual. The needs of orientees could be met in all of these dimensions, based on existing structure and process in the organization. Relationship-based care as our nursing model guides holistic care. Our rich institutional heritage promotes values-based teamwork. Our goal was to articulate these values and hold discussions among preceptors about how these values could be expressed and developed in orientees. These café conversations were held as spring forum sessions. This article highlights essential ideas at the core of this preceptor activity.

Stress Management and Resiliency Training in a Nurse Residency Program: Findings From Participant Focus Groups.

Stress is a well-recognized phenomenon in the nursing profession, particularly for new nurses. This study (a) assessed nurse residents' experience with a stress management program and (b) informed adjustments to the program. Analysis of qualitative data revealed three themes: (a) enhanced personal and professional development, (b) sensitivity to learner needs, and (c) fostering the principles of mindfulness. A stress management program has the potential to positively enhance the new nurse's transition to work.

RN preceptor learning needs assessment.

One institution's registered nurse preceptor training curriculum was revised to include preceptors' input to ensure their learning needs were being met. A descriptive study design was used to answer the following research questions: (a) what knowledge, skills, and attitudes do nurses believe they need to have to be a preceptor; (b) when, in the course of their development, do preceptors believe they need this information; and (c) in what manner(s) do preceptors prefer to learn this information? Thirteen topics that preceptors believed were important were identified. The results of this study were used to successfully revise the preceptor training curriculum.