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Change is Good! New CE Process Yields
Positive Responses from NNJ Readers
Beth
Ulrich, EdD, RN, CHE, FAAN, Editor
For
many years, continuing education (CE) tests in the Nephrology Nursing
Journal and many other nursing journals have been composed of multiple
choice questions. While these tests let us know that the nurses taking
the tests can answer the questions correctly, we have often discussed
how we could better determine the effects of our CE (now known as
continuing nursing education [CNE]) efforts. Trying Something New
In
late 2004, the Nephrology Nursing Journal began using a new format for
CE testing. This format is composed of an open-ended question that
requires nurses to state what they have learned from the content of the
CE article that will change their practice. After several months of
using the new format, the Nephrology Nursing Journal Editorial Board,
with the help of ANNA’s Director of Education, Sally Russell, reviewed
the responses. The results exceeded our expectations, and we expanded
the use of the new format while continuing to use the original format
for some CE articles. The Results
I want to share with you some excerpts of the responses we have
received to various CE articles this past year as they provide a
picture of how providing evidence and information can change nursing
practice.
- I
would discuss PD more often and describe the positive attributes of
self-care. I would also encourage self-care because of more control and
input you have with decision making and flexibility.
- This
article really emphasizes the importance of nurses and healthcare
workers to treat each patient as an individual. We can have a tendency
to treat the disease and not the whole person. It is very difficult to
live with a chronic disease as it affects all aspect of your life. This
article helped remind me of that.
- I
have been a dialysis nurse since April 1975 and have cannulated many,
many patients. I was taught by vascular surgeons to stick fistulas and
grants, and have done well since then. This article is an excellent
review, and has given me new “pointers.” I hadn’t heard of the
button-hole technique. All this is good information to teach others who
I precept.
- Using
an instrument such as ACPRI to ascertain patients’ readiness to discuss
end of life issues would understandably increase the percent of
patients who participate in advance directive completion. I will
discuss the possibility of using such an instrument with my
administrator and physicians.
- Loss
of dependency and changes in role in the family are difficult for us to
address. We try to help emotionally, financially, spiritually, etc.,
but we really need to put this all together for the patients. Reading
about all of the changes patients go through has inspired me to try to
put something together to help them feel more alive and less
restricted. I don’t know how yet, but it needs to be done.
- I
will certainly be more aware of the importance of pretreating our
surgical patients for anticipated decreased hemoglobin and iron. To be
honest, I had not thought of doing this before and have not observed
nephrologists doing it. Very good learning tool!
- In
nephrology nursing, you do the same thing every day and often forget
how life changing and traumatic it is for the patient to be on
dialysis. This article has reminded me to be more caring, listen
better, and be more compassionate.
- These
are just small fragments of the lengthy responses we have received.
They indicate to us that the articles are providing useful information
to our readers. As a result, we have continued to increase the number
of CE article posttests that use this format.쇓
The Process
In
this new format, each individual response is read, recorded, and
reviewed periodically by ANNA’s Director of Education and by the NNJ
Editorial Board. In our most recent review, the responses also provided
ideas for additional articles. Shortly, we will begin sharing the
results with our authors so they can see the effect their work has had
on the practice of nephrology nursing.
Change
This is a good example of positive change. We tried something new. It
was a bit uncomfortable at first. After all, like many things in
nursing, we’d done it the same way for a long, long time. We reviewed
the results and, with positive findings, expanded our use of the new
process. We will continue to evaluate this and all processes used in
the Nephrology Nursing Journal. And, we’ll continue to try new things!
Beth Ulrich, EdD, RN, CHE, FAAN
Editor
E-mail: BethUlrich@aol.com
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