Introduction
The quality of patient care and reputation of the healthcare facility depends significantly on the work of the nursing care staff. To decide what nurses need to learn for improving the quality of their job performance, it is necessary to conduct the educational needs assessment. Having analyzed the received results, it is possible to determine what nursing skills and expertise need to be acquired and what paths for further staff education can be identified. The educational needs assessment should be conducted for the nursing staff of Gulf Coast Medical Center to determine the highest priority concerning the educational needs and analyze the opportunities provided in the organization to address the needs.
Type of Institution and Provided Services
Gulf Coast Medical Center is located in Fort Myers, Florida. The center was opened in 2009, and it is an acute care facility. Gulf Coast Medical Center specializes in neuroscience, orthopedics, and general surgery (Gulf Coast Medical Center, 2014). The center also has an outpatient rehabilitation clinic. There are 349 licensed beds and 43 Emergency Department beds in the center (Gulf Coast Medical Center, 2014).
The average annual number of patients is more than 45,000 people. Referring to the educational level of nursing staff, it is important to note that there are 38 Registered Nurses, 8 Licensed Practical Nurses, 21 Certified Nursing Assistants, 2 Patient Care Liaisons, and 9 Certified Nurses working in the acute care medical unit (Gulf Coast Medical Center, 2014). The facility is not certified by the American Nurses Credentialing Center which is why it cannot be discussed as Magnet Designated despite the effective leadership and high-quality practice observed in the organization.
Summary of the Educational Needs Assessment and Analysis
A small sample including 5 nursing staff members working in the acute care medical unit was selected to conduct the educational needs assessment. It is important to note that 5 nurses with different qualifications were chosen to participate in the structured interview (Roussel, Swansburg, & Swansburg, 2006, p. 54). The interview was based on the developed questionnaire that included the following items to answer and discuss:
- Please state your age, educational level, and years of working in the nursing area.
- Please identify things that can prevent you from doing your job effectively.
- Please identify things that can help you in doing your job effectively.
- How many in-service education and training programs do you want to attend the next year? What are the areas of your interest?
- Are you willing to participate in computer-based programs?
Having analyzed the answers of interviewed nurses, it is possible to state that 2 Registered Nurses, 1 Licensed Practical Nurse, 1 Certified Nursing Assistant, and 1 Certified Nurse experience significant difficulties in providing high-quality care while being interrupted with numerous calls. The interviewed nurses note that frequent interruptions reduce the quality of care and increase fatigue. Nurses also pay attention to high levels of stress.
Among things effective to improve job performance, nurses pay attention to the additional training in stress management and working with information systems. Nurses are ready to participate in 2-3 in-service educational programs annually to develop their competencies in the sphere of stress management, ethics and law, communication techniques, and the use of computers because 3 nurses noted unwillingness to participate in computer-based programs. Thus, the identified educational needs are the following ones:
- Skills in stress management.
- Work with computer technologies and information systems.
- Knowledge of ethics and law.
- Communication skills.
Educational Need of the Highest Priority
Even though Gulf Coast Medical Center is a highly computerized facility where nurses use modern technologies to work with the data and to provide the required care, many nurses still feel uncomfortable while being challenged to work with computer or information technologies. That is why, the necessity to improve the nurses’ knowledge and skills associated with computer technologies and information systems can be discussed as the highest priority because the lack of these skills can also lead to increasing the nurses’ stress levels (Hoeman, 2008, p. 112). The improvement of the nurses’ education about information technologies is necessary to increase the quality of patient care and reduce stress levels.
The Role of Institutional Forces
Gulf Coast Medical Center has the necessary resources to address the identified educational needs because of offering annually the required budget to conduct the in-service educational programs. The educational programs are developed and conducted within the Lee Memorial Health System (Gulf Coast Medical Center, 2014). The programs proposed during each year are developed to respond to the nurses’ learning needs and the contemporary trends. Regular screenings are conducted by the management team to determine the areas in which nurses need to improve their knowledge and skills.
The receptiveness of the staff can be discussed as high because Gulf Coast Medical Center is considered as the modern health care facility addressing all the changes in the technologies, and continuous education is the important condition to provide the care according to the national and facility’s standards. As a result, it is possible to note that Gulf Coast Medical Center provides nurses with the opportunities to increase their professionalism.
The Role of the Organization’s Structure
Gulf Coast Medical Center was opened in 2009 as a result of the merger of Southwest Florida Regional Medical Center and Gulf Coast Hospital. Today, Gulf Coast Medical Center is a large health care facility including the emergency department, neuroscience department, surgery department, orthopedics department, outpatient rehabilitation clinic, and Kidney Transplant Center (Gulf Coast Medical Center, 2014). That is why the in-service educational programs are oriented to and organized for the nurses of the concrete unit or department while focusing on their specific learning needs.
More than 70 nurses are working in the acute care medical unit, and annual education programs are proposed to respond to the educational needs identified as the highest priority for these nurses. The organization’s structure influences the nurses’ in-service education directly because the number and focus of training and programs depend on the concrete department. Gulf Coast Medical Center promotes computer-based education with the help of co-working with the Lee Memorial Health System.
Conclusion
Gulf Coast Medical Center is the leading health care facility in Fort Myers, Florida, which offers high-quality patient care. To contribute to positive patient outcomes, the management of the center initiates and conducts different in-service education and training programs for the nursing staff having different qualifications.
The programs are different, and the variety of options depends on the department. The educational needs assessments and screenings are conducted for nurses of many units and departments separately because of the necessity to concentrate on the needs of nurses working in the concrete workplace environment. The determined prioritized need for the nurses of the acute medical care unit is the improvement of skills in working with information technologies.
References
Gulf Coast Medical Center. (2014). Web.
Hoeman, S. (2008). Rehabilitation nursing: Prevention, intervention, and outcomes. New York, NY: Elsevier Health Sciences.
Roussel, L., Swansburg, R. C., & Swansburg, R. J. (2006). Management and leadership for nurse administrators. New York, NY: Jones & Bartlett Learning.