There seems to be very limited literature on the above subject. If any nurse educator has any information about, plans or bright ideas :-) for this subject I would be absolutely delighted to hear about them. I imagine it is becoming more of a concern now that re-registration or re-enrolment carries the requirement of a minimum 20 hours of continuing education.
If you wish to send me an article link, or other, my work email address is: Colleen_Bell@health.qld.gov.au.
Thank you!
Colleen - our bank/pool staff are paid to attend one day per year to complete all annual competencies. Other than that they are welcome to attend all regular sessions/days available to all nurses. It is their responsibility to ensure they meet the 20 hour requirement.
Jill Jones - Peninsula Health (Victoria)
Once upon a time long ago i came in on ND to provide inservice at various times before shift and during shift to provide inservice which was initially well attended then dropped off. This changed to after shift update sessions only again adhoc attendance. The next action was to offer a full update day annually for pool and pernament ND staff as many staff need to work these shifts due to family reasons. Initially well attended, then dropped off.
Since then have changed to a 5-hour update day including a 1-hour session on a contemporary topic.  These continue to be well attended with max 20 places. Also have a limited number of ppt with voice-over on the intranet for them to access.  Â
Staff either attend in their own time or they negotiate with the Senior RN (CSC) as an opportunity to undertake a "full" paid shift for other education (ie computer systems, ward specific competencies, ...) within the unit.  Â
KAren, TQEH (SA)
Hi everyone – In our organisation (Armadale Health Service, WA) all nurses, including pool and bank are paid for attending a one day update consisting of mandatory competencies and are welcome to attend all education sessions/study days/programs we offer either in their own time or in paid time if negotiated with their managers.
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Jacqui Aguiar
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A/Manager - Education & Staff Development
9391 2057
0407 083 205
Jill,
we have commenced a clinical skills day for casual staff as well as a half day looking at clinical risk i.e. falls medication, pressure. all staff can also access our campus professional development for nursing staff for free. They can access this in work or own time.
Also Queensland has developed an on-line orientation package for staff consisting of 4 modules which are to be completed within a period of 4 weeks after employment commencement. They cover Medication, Professional issues, patient assessment and infection management.
These link into a planned program of education for permanently employed staff.
Michelle
Hi Colleen, we run a similar model to Jill, but with the extensive list on the AHPRA website as to what "education" encompasses it is difficult to understand why nurses can't achieve 20 CPD hours. At least in Australia, mandatory requirements are included unlike the UK, USA & Canada where they aren't, unless you are learning something new. I think our role is to encourage active learning, reflection and help the nurse initially pull everything together as part of their portfolio. We are also aligning our A & D cycle with registration cycle where as the nurse has to now also produce their portfolio. What we also have to remember that this concept may be new to some existing staff members and initially there may be some reluctance to be engaged in this, but as the nurses in the unis come out Life Long Learning will be an expectation. We went through a similar issue when this was introduced in the UK some years ago. Unfortunatley after hours are always difficult to capture, I work in the community so we don't even have nurses based on wards a different kind of challenge! We are looking at E learning also as a tool that can be used, and I'm pushing for Clinical Supervision to be available to nurses, like the Mental Health Nurses in south Australia. This is my project/mission this year to have it recognised and funded, as we aren't funded by the government.Hope this is a different perspective for you.
Jayne RDNS SA
Hi Colleen, I work as permanent Nurse Educator out of hours at Austin Health in Melbourne for over 10 years. Austin Health has 3 campuses. I work night shift and weekends to provide night staff with education sessions that are delivered on the wards during the night. We have about 250 permanent and about 100 casual night staff nurses. Each months there is one hour education session from 2100 hrs to 2200 hrs on each campus. During the year there are 4 dedicated study days for night staff with different topics. Each year more than 120 night nurses attend the dedicated study days. Casual nurses can attend the study days but do so in their on time. We also have eLearning available for all nurses with elearing packages. This get recorded on a central data base after completion. All night staff get assesst overnight on CPR and other assessments performent as required or requested, e.g Move Smart.
I have attached the Night Duty Study Day program to show what will be covered in this year study day.
If there are further question to the position please contact me on my email.
Emmi Godau, Nurse Educator Out of Hours, Austin Health
Email:emmi.godau@austin.org.au
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Hi Colleen,
We run a "Twilight Skills Workshop" about 10 times per year to cater for Resource Pool and Permanent Night Duty staff.
The workshop program includes both online modules and an after hours face to face component, covering annual accreditations for basic life support, safer patient handling, fire safety etc, and other topics of interest to specific nurse/midwife groups, such as child safe environments, managing aggression an so on.
The workshops are generally well-attended, with a maximum of 20 participants allowed to ensure adequate attention from the educator group for each participant.
We also have other online learning modules available for staff to allow them easy access to their 20 hours of professional development per year.
Karen WhiteActing Director
Centre for Nursing & Midwifery Education & Research
Southern Area Health Service - Adelaide Health Service
Flinders Medical Centre
karen.white3@health.sa.gov.au