Continuing Nursing Education in Nova Scotia | |
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Nurses say that remote training provides a good
opportunity to improve competence, especially in
rural areas.
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Continuing Nursing Education in Nova ScotiaThe TeleHealth Way
In the beginning …
In the late 1990s, recognizing that the working environments of nurses were being increasingly affected by changes in the healthcare system, the College of Registered Nurses of Nova Scotia (the College) decided to survey nurses on their needs for continuing education. The College found out that nurses thought it would be beneficial, particularly in the development of job-related competencies, to have continuing nursing education offered in their work places. Specifically, they wanted to have more interactive education opportunities … to enable them to benefit from the knowledge, expertise and experience of other nurses and healthcare professionals.
Fortunately, around the same time, the province’s Department of Health was introducing new technology to enhance the delivery of health services … through the Nova Scotia TeleHealth Network. Gaining access to this network, one of the largest of its kind in the world, literally opened the doors of healthcare facilities for the College in 1998 … to launch its Continuing Nursing Education program (CNE)… to deliver education sessions to nurses in their work places through videoconferencing.
And today …
Six years after its inception, registered nurses in Nova Scotia are ranking the CNE program as the most relevant College program in place. In fact, in a recent member survey, 73% of respondents ranked it as either important or extremely important to advancing the practice of nursing in Nova Scotia.
The number of healthcare facilities linked through the TeleHealth network has grown, to 44, and so have the collaborative partnerships between the College and other key stakeholders. For example, the College is now working with faculty from the RN Professional Development Centre (QEII Health Sciences Centre), in Halifax, to deliver distance education to nurses working toward certification in specialty areas such as critical care and emergency nursing. And at the request of palliative care nurses in the province, a series of education sessions has been developed to help them prepare to write the Hospice Palliative Care Nursing Certification examination.
How does the CNE program work and who is involved?
First of all, a College staff member coordinates the CNE program and is responsible for ensuring that the overall goal of the program is achieved: to provide education sessions that match the learning needs identified by registered nurses.
Every year, the College’s CNE Coordinator oversees an assessment of nurses’ learning needs: sending assessment forms to facilities and community agencies employing registered nurses, to provide nurses with an opportunity to identify what topics they would like to see covered in CNE sessions. At any time throughout a year, nurses
can also submit this type of information directly to the CNE Coordinator, a facility-based nurse educator/manager, a community-based manager, or a telehealth site coordinator. And nurses who attend CNE sessions can suggest topics for future sessions on evaluation forms distributed at the end of each session. Sometimes experts or specialists in a particular area of practice may also identify learning needs, based on new information in their practice, and offer to share this information through a CNE session.
Armed with the knowledge of what nurses want/need, the CNE Coordinator then goes on a quest to find appropriate presenters (they tend to be clinical nurse specialists, expanded role nurses and nurse educators, however, may also be experts/specialists from fields other than nursing). Once all the logistical details are finalized, the programs are promoted across the province through College newsletters, the College’s website (www.crnns.ca), and posters developed by the CNE Coordinator. And because CNE sessions are open to all nurses interested in participating, these posters are sent to TeleHealth site coordinators, to be posted in facilities, and to contact individuals for nurses working in areas such as long-term care facilities, the VON, public health, and continuing care agencies.
What have nurses said about the CNE program?
According to two surveys conducted by the College within the past year, nurses have a high awareness and regard for the CNE program, and most believe the sessions are beneficial to their practice (ranking them moderate to high in benefits).
Comments from nurses in rural areas have included: “I depend on TeleHealth for continuing education. To me it is priceless.”
“Good opportunity for improved competence, especially in rural areas … where we don’t have the opportunities to keep current like nurses in larger centres.”
Even in the face of heavy workloads, nurses are managing to participate in CNE sessions, and as one commented, “CNE via any form is a vital tool in providing safe and knowledgeable health care to clients … if it were made easier for nurses to attend, without worries of workload or loss of pay, it would help keep nurses in Nova Scotia.”
Submitted by Ann Duncan, Coordinator, Continuing Nursing Education, College of Registered Nurses of Nova Scotia
Author’s acknowledgements: Thanks to the many staff nurses, nurse educators, clinical resource nurses, TeleHealth site coordinators, other nurse leaders and presenters, as well as the Nova Scotia Department of Health and the NS TeleHealth Network … it is only through their ongoing support, contributions and commitment that the CNE program continues to be successful in providing nurses with education that meets their learning needs and enhances their practice.
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