Helps Ease Transition for New Nurses
In a day and age when recruiting new nurses is more difficult than ever, the BWH Nursing department is taking extra strides to ensure that it recruits more nurses than ever before—and that they are provided with critical training. One such stride is the “Mastering Critical Thinking: Case Studies” lecture program, which is directed toward helping recent nursing school graduates at an often overwhelming and alienating point in their careers.
The “Mastering Critical Thinking: Case Studies” program is a weekly one-hour lunch session. The lecture series is part of the new graduate program for nurses, which assists new graduate nurses as they move from novice to expert levels of practice. Every week, a different clinical educator presents a case study and leads a discussion that revolves around identifying the primary problem and prioritizing care. Questions such as, “What would your first action be?” and “From there what would you anticipate happening?” are posed, and the roles of other disciplines are identified. Frequently the discussion will veer off into the realm of ethical dilemmas. All of the clinical educators are involved, and each possesses a different specialty area, which guarantees that both surgical and medical topics are well covered from week to week. The discussions also branch out to tackle difficult situations that the nurses may have encountered recently.
“‘Thinking-in-action’ is a hurdle that can be difficult for the new nurse, unaccustomed to the need for rapid responses to subtle—or not so subtle—changes in a patient's clinical condition,” says Mary Pennington, Clinical Educator, 10ABCD and 9D. “This series creates a way to understand and guide experiential learning. The response has been tremendous and the new graduates feel that having a weekly review of case studies helps them develop their ability to problem solve, in a supportive environment.”
“I really feel like it’s helped to reinforce the nursing skills I learned in school and to keep them up to date,” said Lauren O’Neil, RN, 10A. “We’ve done a number of case studies, and have been asked about what we would do in those situations. Hearing about the case studies forces me to think critically so that when that situation arises, I’m ready for it. Also, the classes consist mainly of new grads, so it’s a comforting learning environment. All the educators have been great, and I’ve really enjoyed it so far.”
The lectures are held every Wednesday from 12-1 p.m. in the 12th floor conference room. For more information, contact Mary Pennington at ext. 7348.