Accelerated Professional Development and Peer Consultation: Two Strategies for Continuing Professional Education for Nurses

Abstract

This study was designed to evaluate a program of professional development for RNs working in mental health settings. The development of skills in reflective practice and peer consultation was fostered by encouraging nurses to explore critical incidents from their practice experience within a small group environment. The aim of the program was to improve the knowledge and skills of the participants, enhance the work environment and improve work performance. The effectiveness of the program was evaluated using a quasi-experimental pretest, posttest design. The participants demonstrated improvements in their empathic responses to patients, their sense of hope, and some aspects of their work performance and perceptions of the work environment. The implications of the findings for practice and research are outlined.

Finding a way forward: A literature review on the current debates around clinical supervision

“…In relation to clinical supervision, nurses describe feeling that they are not worthy of clinical supervision (Green Lister & Crisp, 2005) interventions as either standalone projects (White & Winstanley, 2010) or through the introduction of clinical supervision alongside other changes to usual practice (Berg & Hallberg, 1999;BÉGat, Severinsson, & Berggren, 1997;Edberg, Hallberg, & Gustafson, 1996;Hart et al, 2000;Heaven et al, 2006;Kilcullen, 2007). There are several problems associated with this.…”

Nursing narratives and reflective practice: A theoretical review

“…In fact, such procedures produce a different level of data from those gained in individual interviews (Hennink, ). Furthermore, group reflective discussions have been found to assist individuals in reaching a deeper level of exploration (Asselin & Fain, ; Hart et al., ; Jenkins, ; Miraglia & Asselin, ) and contribute to a culture of nursing care with the potential for eventual organizational change (Hart et al., ; Miraglia & Asselin, ). To avoid potential difficulties, we consider that establishing a climate of trust is essential to facilitating the dynamics of the group.…”

The middle‐range theory of nursing intellectual capital

“…These behaviours included an increase in use of newly acquired nursing skills and interventions (Kellmer‐Langan et al. 1992, Knoblauch & Wilson 1999, Hart et al. 2000, Umble et al.…”

“…The most widely reported outcomes achieved from nurse participation in CPD are knowledge gain (Messmer et al 1998, Brunt 2000, Umble et al 2000 and changes in professional practice behaviours. These behaviours included an increase in use of newly acquired nursing skills and interventions (Kellmer-Langan et al 1992, Knoblauch & Wilson 1999, Hart et al 2000, Umble et al 2000, Browne & Covington 2004, Perkins et al 2004, improvements in documentation (Cox & Baker 1981, Kellmer-Langan et al 1992, adherence to protocols (Umble et al 2000) and improvement in patient education (Ferrell 1988, Peden et al 1992. Patient outcomes related to (a) symptom management (Dufault & Sullivan 2000), (b) reduction in length of stay (Gill & Ursic 1994), (c) reduction in adverse event such as the rate of medication administration errors (Bulla 2003), complications and mortality following surgery (Newhouse et al 2005), hospitalacquired infections (Salahuddin et al 2004), and severity of injury resulting from a patient fall (McCarter-Bayer & Hall 2005) have also been reported to occur as a result of nurses' participation in CPD.…”