Domonique Banks, MS, RN
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Karen Yarbrough, MS, ACNP
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Christine Ball, BSN, RN, CNRN
Background:
Aligned with our Primary Stroke Center’s goal to achieve Comprehensive Stroke Center (CSC) designation, nursing leadership met to discuss strategies to increase bedside expertise following an influx of new graduate nurses. CSCs are required to operate inpatient stroke units staffed by qualified stoke caregivers, comply with professional standards, and demonstrate a commitment to providing stroke related education. Thus, a stroke nurse fellowship (SNF) program was developed. The SNF serves as an essential resource for nursing/patient education, performance improvement, and staff retention. The purpose of this abstract is to provide an overview of the SNF Program content, implementation, and feasibility.
Methods:
The SNF curriculum was developed from the American Board of Neuroscience Nursing’s new Stroke Certified Registered Nurse (SCRN) credentialing. The program reviews CSC standards/performance measures and provides interdisciplinary neurology rounding experiences, mock survey tracer exercises, rehab facility observation, and BAT code simulated learning. Program classes are 4 hours biweekly for 6 months and culminate with a mentored process improvement (PI) project. Potential applicants are recruited from the pool of less experienced nursing staff.
Results:
Nine candidates from 3 nursing units submitted applications. Seven were selected to begin the fellowship program in September, 2013. Program outcomes include percent of stroke related patient education standards documented, percent of candidates successful on SCRN examination, PI project impact, and increased nurse retention. Also, barriers and facilitators of the program will be reviewed.
Conclusion:
Developing a SNF program was feasible due to interdisciplinary collaboration and use of existing resources, thereby minimizing financial constraints. The SNF Program supports the UMMC’s commitment to the regulatory and educational standards of a CSC. There is potential for other specialty services to use this program as a model for developing unit based experts and improving the quality of patient care.