Responses to Other Students: Respond to at least 1 of your fellow classmates with at least a 250-word reply about their Primary Task Response regarding items you found to be compelling and enlightening. To help you with your discussion, please consider the following questions:
- What did you learn from your classmate’s posting?
- What additional questions do you have after reading the posting?
- What clarification do you need regarding the posting?
- What differences or similarities do you see between your posting and other classmates’ postings?
All sources should be cited using APA format. Grammar, spelling, punctuation, and format should be correct and professional.
read and respond to post
In the role of informatics nurse and Clinical Applications Coordinator I will oversee creation and implementation of a training/education initiative that will facilitate the roll out of electronic medication administration (eMAR/BCMA) technology to critical care services. Critical care services include ICU, ED, and PACU in a 200 bed acute care hospital. This is an expanding healthcare environment that will implement cutting edge technology to current clinical practices. This will add new technological processes to high-risk workflows. As such, I will make certain that thorough and progressive training initiatives are developed to ensure nursing proficiency and patient safety while maintaining quality outcomes.
The first step to this transition would be to identify the necessary staff who will need to be educated on the new system is essential. Education is crucial for the RNs in the ICU, ED, PACU, and medical-surgical units, because they’ll be tasked with scanning medications, verifying them, and keeping the eMAR up to date. In addition, RNs spend the most amount of time with patients; therefore, they are responsible for integrating this new technology into their workflow and maintaining clinical awareness. Changing workflows and communication patterns can be challenging, so nursing staff will need support and education around this topic.
The education program should encompass nurse managers and charge nurses, too, because they’re on hand to address staff questions and supervise the units. Nurse managers and charge nurses should have a more in-depth knowledge of the system so they can lead by example and reinforce training messages with their staff. In addition, pharmacy members, including clinical pharmacists, pharmacists, and technicians, should receive education surrounding the medication administration process as they typically are hands-on with dispensing medications, order alerts, and filling out drug documentation.
Members of other clinical professions that administer medication within these units also need to receive education on barcode scanning and administering medications. For example, within critical care settings, respiratory therapists also administer medications, so they will need training on proper scanning and documentation processes. Overall, there needs to be comprehensive education on the new system; otherwise, there is room for confusion, delay in workflow, poor documentation, increased cognitive load, and risk to patient safety.
Not only is it vital to develop a thorough training education plan, it is also crucial to identify super users that will be placed on each unit. Super users are clinical staff members that have received additional training on system use and work directly on the units to provide real-time support and education. For instance, a nurse or nursing technician may be placed on a unit as a super user and work one-on-one with staff members while they are learning how to use the system. Having super users on each unit will allow clinicians to receive real-time support and answers to questions instead of waiting for IT support to become available. This will decrease any downtime in clinical care and allow providers to get questions answered quickly. In addition to offering support, super users can correct mistakes and allow for safer documentation and medication scanning habits.
Another advantage of super users is their role in bridging the gap between clinicians and IT personnel. Super users, with their insider knowledge of the technology’s functions and its role in clinical practice, serve as a vital link for conveying staff feedback to IT. Also, because super users have knowledge of the system, they can inform clinicians of any updates or changes. During implementation and system updates, super users can assist with peer education, address roadblocks that arise, and reduce staff resistance to change. Moreover, super users can increase efficiency by providing tips and tricks to decrease time spent navigating the system, allowing more time to focus on patients. Lastly, super users can help create a safe learning environment for their peers by ensuring they feel confident in their skills, creating consistency in workflows (Al-Awaysheh et al., 2024).
Ideally, there should be a collaboration to determine who would be appropriate for super users. Nurse managers should be consulted since they know their staff and understand who has the leadership skills to take on this role. Clinical educators should also assist with this decision by identifying potential super users who have great teaching skills, are confident, and are not technophobic. Finally, IT or clinical applications should provide input on potential super users since they understand the knowledge and ability level needed to support staff on the units. After discussing as a team, super users should be selected that have clinical credibility with their peers but also have the ability to educate fellow staff members (Al-Awaysheh et al., 2024).
Moving on to training implementation, nursing staff will first complete computer-based modules that will provide them with an introduction to medication administration processes. “Computer-based learning has numerous advantages. It gives students the chance to accommodate and solve problems independently, it can increase motivation during the learning process, and it offers students direct feedback” (Elcokany et al., 2021).
During this portion of training, nurses will learn about navigation of the system, barcode scanning medication administration workflow, security protocols, and contingency plans in case technology fails. Computer-based modules allow staff to go at their own pace and understanding, while also building a strong foundation before working hands-on in a simulated clinical environment. After completing computer-based modules, nurses will attend classroom-style teaching in which they will utilize a mock electronic health record to practice what they learned during modules. In this setting, nurses will be able to identify medications, scan medications, and manage alerts.
Once training is completed, coaching will be provided by super users and educators on the units during go-live. This education strategy is crucial because nurses will be practicing what they learned during modules and classroom training on actual patients. Consistently providing coaching during this time allows for identification of breakdowns in workflow and any additional education that may be needed. Because coaching will be taking place during medication administration, learning will continue.
The training strategy described above incorporates a blended learning method. Blended learning refers to the use of both computer-based learning and traditional face-to-face training. There is substantial evidence that supports the use of computer-based learning in nursing. One study examined how computer-based case scenarios could impact clinical decision-making among nursing students and found that there was a statistically significant increase in scores related to decision-making and perceived learning (Elcokany et al., 2021). Another study compared computer-based training education to traditional face-to-face learning and found that computer-based education was not inferior to face-to-face education and could be used as an alternative strategy to support nursing knowledge (Al-Awaysheh et al., 2024).
In conclusion, this evidence leads me to believe a singular training strategy wouldn’t be effective. Although computer-based modules allow for flexibility and introduction to main concepts, hands-on learning allows nurses to simulate skills before practicing patients. By using a blended approach to training, many types of learners will be reached while hitting cognitive as well as psychomotor domains. Furthermore, this training strategy will allow nurses to reflect on their knowledge gained from modules and classroom learning while repeating skills during coaching to promote retention (Elcokany et al., 2021).
References
AlAwaysheh, H., AlRuzzeih, M., & Alloubani, A. (2024). Comparing the effectiveness of computerbased teaching versus facetoface teaching of clinically related courses among newly hired oncology nurses. Educacin Mdica, 25, 100894.
Elcokany, N. M., Abdelhafez, A. I., Sharaby, V. M. S., & Belal, S. (2021). Use of computerbased scenarios for clinical teaching: Impact on nursing students decisionmaking skills. Healthcare, 9(9), 1228.
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