Development of an education program to support nurse-initiated protocols in the emergency department.
Tracks
Concurrent Stream 1
| Thursday, October 17, 2024 |
| 2:10 PM - 2:30 PM |
| Ionic Room |
Overview
Rachel Cavanagh
Speaker
Rachel Cavanagh
Sydney University
Development of an education program to support nurse-initiated protocols in the emergency department.
2:10 PM - 2:30 PMAbstract
Providing timely, safe, high-quality care to patients in overcrowded emergency departments (ED) is challenging. The Agency for Clinical Innovation (ACI) released statewide Emergency Care Assessment and Treatment (ECAT) protocols (previously EPICs) for nurse-initiated care to support the early delivery of safe treatment in the ED. An education program was needed to support emergency nurses' development of necessary knowledge and skills to apply the ECAT protocols safely and confidentially as part of the Emergency nurse Protocol Initiating Care – Sydney Triage to Admission Risk (EPIC-START) study, and to ensure intervention fidelity across study sites.
Aim: To develop an education program to enable emergency nurses to apply ECAT protocols confidently, accurately, and consistently for safe, timely patient care.
This program was purposefully designed by 15 educational experts using backwards design, constructive alignment, Benner's novice-to-expert model, Bloom’s taxonomy, and an analysis of existing educational resources to ensure content aligned with current evidence. A document analysis was conducted to endure educational content aligned with the ECAT policy directive and supporting ACI, NSW health and HETI documents.
The resulting EPIC-START education program consists of three evidence-informed and purposefully designed courses targeted to the experience and prior knowledge of the individual emergency nurse. The courses incorporated pre-learning, participant and facilitator workbooks, e-learning modules and facilitated workshops to ensure scaffolded learning. The EPIC-START education program was designed to support nurses’ knowledge and confidence when applying the ECAT protocols in clinical practice to improve the timely delivery of safe patient care. The evaluation of the program will provide evidence for clinical behaviour change interventions in the ED setting.
Aim: To develop an education program to enable emergency nurses to apply ECAT protocols confidently, accurately, and consistently for safe, timely patient care.
This program was purposefully designed by 15 educational experts using backwards design, constructive alignment, Benner's novice-to-expert model, Bloom’s taxonomy, and an analysis of existing educational resources to ensure content aligned with current evidence. A document analysis was conducted to endure educational content aligned with the ECAT policy directive and supporting ACI, NSW health and HETI documents.
The resulting EPIC-START education program consists of three evidence-informed and purposefully designed courses targeted to the experience and prior knowledge of the individual emergency nurse. The courses incorporated pre-learning, participant and facilitator workbooks, e-learning modules and facilitated workshops to ensure scaffolded learning. The EPIC-START education program was designed to support nurses’ knowledge and confidence when applying the ECAT protocols in clinical practice to improve the timely delivery of safe patient care. The evaluation of the program will provide evidence for clinical behaviour change interventions in the ED setting.
Biography
Rachel Cavanagh has worked as a registered nurse at Westmead Emergency Department since 2017. In this time, she worked as a Clinical Nurse Educator and covered annual leave in the Clinical Nurse Consultant position. She has also worked in remote and rural emergency departments across Australia between 2020-2023, ranging from Albany in WA, Cooktown in Far North Queensland and Ceduna in South Australia. During this time she completed her Graduate Diploma with the University of Tasmania. She is now working at The University of Sydney as an Emergency Research Nurse.
