Building capability through education and training is a key component of the HMC/SickKids Partnership Project. A variety of
educational courses, symposia and observerships have been offered over the course of five years within a variety of areas and services. The tables below illustrate the HMC staff members that have benefited, split down by nurses, allied health professionals (AHPs) and physicians.
Impact of Education Courses “Education gives you the knowledge, knowledge tells you how to do it”
“Experience tells you what to do. Confidence allows you to do it”
“The Pediatric Nursing Pain Champion’s (NPCs) resilience against all odds is testament to their innate wish to make positive changes in their practice one unit at a time. My heart swells with pride knowing how far they have gone in such a short time. There was a noticeable increase in baseline pain knowledge, particularly around pain assessment tools. This is down to the influence of the unit-based NPCs and the ongoing educational opportunities.
Many NPCs are submitting an abstract for the upcoming Qatar International Pain Conference in January 2015 to describe the network and their pain management initiatives, which shows a commitment to their role and how they are making changes in pediatric pain management. A great outcome of the network and development of NPCs, is the enthusiasm and active engagement of newly trained champions.”
“There has been remarkable growth among the respiratory therapists (RTs). Many of these RTs have been seeking opportunities for professional development. They are being recognized as the experts in respiratory care and are being sought out for information. In the past, nurses have called the RTs not only for clinical deterioration of patients, but also for shared responsibilities such as suctioning, repositioning, running blood gases, and SiPAP interface adjustments. It seems that it is no longer only task related calls, but also to support and help nurses to understand respiratory concepts”
“Nurses who attended the course are often overheard in the clinical area going over things that they had learned in their classes to the new staff, passing on the knowledge that they themselves have gained, such as teaching them how to do head to toe assessments. They took great pride in the preparation of new nurses being able to present their patient’s case in rounds.”
“Nurses from both HGH and RH who have completed the Pediatric Peri-operative Course continue to initiate pediatric-specific care based on the knowledge gained through the course and clinical consolidation. HGH and RH OR nurses continue to maintain knowledge from the course deliveries taken in the past based on assessment during skills stations and within the clinical settings.”
“This visit revealed very impressive changes related to pediatric nursing practice, interprofessional communication, nursing autonomy and nursing leadership. Nurses demonstrated a stronger knowledge base and confidence in the admission and assessment of PACU pediatric patients, and were stronger advocates in obtaining patient information from the responsible anesthetist. They were more at ease with parental interaction and engagement and documented more reliably and accurately.”
“Nurses at both HGH and Rumailah continued to demonstrate family centred care with the pediatric population. Patients were comforted by the peri-operative team during transfer from the reception area into the OR.”
