Tower 14A Partners with UMass-Boston
BWH and UMass-Boston College of Nursing and Health Sciences launched a dedicated education unit pilot program on Tower 14A in January.
In collaboration with UMass-Boston College of Nursing and Health Sciences and MGH, BWH launched a Dedicated Education Unit pilot program on Tower 14A in January. The program aims to transform a patient care unit into an optimal learning and teaching environment through the collaborative efforts of staff nurses, leadership students and faculty.
“We are excited to pioneer this effort with BWH,” said Greer Glazer, PhD, FAAN, RN, CNP, dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at UMass-Boston, during a celebration on 14A with the students, staff and leadership to kick off the program.
The pilot program was initiated in response to a growing body of evidence that suggests a staff nurse’s educational support is vital to the development of a student nurse’s professional and clinical knowledge. In addition, student nurses who have satisfying and productive relationships with nurse mentors often seek employment at the hospital where they had a good experience.
“As a Department of Nursing, we view new and innovative academic partnerships as an investment in the future of the profession,” said Mairead Hickey, PhD, RN, chief nursing officer and senior vice president for Patient Care Services. “We are thrilled with the opportunity this pilot program provides.”
The staff and leadership of Tower 14A, a long-time orientation pod for the faculty model, volunteered to participate in piloting this new learning approach. “We have a tremendous nursing team that has developed significant teaching, coaching and orienting experience,” said Tower 14AB Nurse Manager Patti Brita Rossi, MS, RN. “This pilot allows for a real exchange of knowledge, expertise and ideas between staff nurses and students, and, as life-long learners, experienced nurses can both teach and learn a lot from students.”
Staff nurses and experienced preceptors, Beth Baldwin, BSN, RN, Marjorie Depestre, BSN, RN, and Maria Devegia Etheart, BSN, RN, volunteered to partner with and participate in educating third-year nursing students from UMass-Boston for the spring semester, January through May. Each student is assigned to a preceptor, and together they will care for two patients.
This program enables students to gain 12 hours of clinical, unit-based instruction per week for 14 weeks following their preceptors’ schedule. The students work beside their preceptor for a full shift, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. or 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
“I am thrilled to be working as a preceptor and clinical instructor for UMass-Boston on the DEU on 14AB,” Baldwin said. “Working with my two students allows for direct and constant opportunities for learning and skill development. Their experience is much more cohesive because we have a relationship that progresses from shift to shift, building on skills that have been developed during each clinical day.”
Through this clinical immersion experience, students benefit from participating in the workflow of the unit, caring for family members and collaborating with other nurses and the multidisciplinary care team around the care of their patient. “The students become immersed in the culture of the unit,” said Dorothy Bradley, MSN, RN, program coordinator in the Center for Nursing Excellence and liaison to the staff of 14A during the pilot. “They become more involved in patient care and unit activities, and other staff come to know them, as well.”
The staff nurses often invite the students to join in clinical experiences such as a bedside procedure involving another patient. These opportunities may not be available to students in the traditional model.
A UMASS clinical faculty coordinator serves as a resource for the staff preceptors and students. The preceptors attended several classes taught by UMass nursing faculty to enhance their knowledge on teaching students.
The staff on 14A, the nursing students and nursing leadership with the support of the Center for Nursing Excellence and UMass faculty will evaluate the Dedicated Educational Unit pilot and compare it to the traditional student model, which usually pairs eight students with one instructor on a BWH inpatient unit.