Educational Center for Professional Development
Our nurse educators in the Center for Professional Development, Innovation and Research (CPDIR) support the learning needs of our nursing and allied employees in our organization, our academic partners, and the community through a variety of planned education opportunities. An abundance of opportunities exists to engage our employees, students, and community needs including formal classes, orientation programs, unit-based in-services, coordination of computer-based learning, webinars, one-on-one instruction, competency assessment, simulation, and virtual learning.
The nurse educators proudly support the shared governance councils by serving as resources to the council members. Additionally, nurse educators partner with the unit leadership team ensuring education is provided to support new unit-based initiatives and the consistent delivery of evidenced based care at the bedside. Feedback from our nursing and patient care technicians is solicited each year through the annual learning needs assessment survey. The CPDIR team utilizes this feedback to develop programs to meet the learning and professional development needs of our employees.
In 2022, the CPDIR safely resumed all classes back to the “live learning” after many programs were taught remotely due to the challenges of the pandemic. The CPDIR conducted 192 live classes with a total of 2716 participants. Computer based learning classes allowed our nurse educators and employees to stay on track to meet our orientation and training targets for 2022, with a total of 205 learners participating in computer based on- line classes. Nurses attended live courses and computer-based curriculums in our learning management system MC Strategies © and were awarded a total of 2,463 contact hours towards their professional development! Our nurse educators are most proud of the successful onboarding and orientation on 601 members of our workforce (including Nurses, Patient Care Technician, Mental Health Workers, and Sitters) to support the staffing needs of all our units and promote the safe delivery of care at the bedside.
Academic Affiliations
Jersey City Medical Center – RWJBH prides itself as an academic institution with a mission of supporting the learning and clinical experiences of undergraduate and graduate students in all areas of health care. The Center for Professional Development, Innovation and Research (CPDIR) oversees the school affiliation process with our corporate team and the coordination of the clinical experiences. Clinical rotations include both nursing and a broad range of clinical programs for health care professionals. Throughout 2022, the CPDIR maintained close communication with our executive leadership team and our academic partners, relaying and enforcing updates to policies and procedures to make certain our students in all specialties were safe and up to date on changes to regulatory guidelines.
In 2022, the CPDIR oversaw 74 school affiliation agreements with thirty academic institutions actively enrolling students for precepted experiences at JCMC. Proudly, our organization had a total of 86,285 student clinical hours completed under the preceptor guidance of JCMC-RWJBH employees. This is 6,287 more precepted student hours than 2021. Our largest growth in clinical hours was in the Bachelor/BSN program with an increase of 13,706 precepted student hours, the highest amount tracked in the past four years. The CPDIR team appreciates all of our JCMC nursing and allied professionals for their support and mentorship of the students entering the health care field.
Members of the CPDIR, Human Resources and our Executive Nursing Leadership team held recruitment events in 2022 with our academic partners to recruit nursing graduates from our academic partners. We look forward to our continued relationships with our nursing schools and the opportunity to hire from both our nursing and professional studies programs the future workforce of JCMC-RWJBH!
Nurse Residency Program
The Nurse Residency Program prepares nurses for the successful transition from the role of student nurse to the role of competent, confident, professional nurse. The nine-month nurse residency program is designed for nurses with less than one year of nursing experience. The program is based on the requirements of the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Practice Transition Accreditation Program standards. Established with our first cohort of nurse residents in September of 2018, our program received “Accreditation with Distinction” honors in February 2020. We are currently preparing for our re-accreditation cycle in 2023. The nurse residency program incorporates the unit-based nursing orientation, planned learning experiences such as simulation, role play, computer-based classes, wellness programs, debriefing sessions, knowledge assessment validations, and skills labs to increase clinical knowledge adaptation. The nurse educators, preceptors, managers, and directors continue to support the learning needs and professional development of our nurse residents by promoting enculturation into our organization by supporting nurse residents to become involved in our councils, our mentorship program, and the nurse differentiated ladder program. This past year the CPDIR expanded the curriculum of the Nurse Residency Program to include the “Nurse Residency Basic Skills Lab” and “The Emergency Department and Critical Care Skills” to enhance the learning of our nurse residents. Additional training in de-escalation, workplace violence prevention, recognizing and managing incivility in health care, and nurse resident wellness was added to the Nurse Residency Program to support the challenges novice nurses are facing in their new role. In 2022, we welcomed 82 nurse residents (Cohort numbers 7-12) into the following participating specialties: Critical Care, Emergency Department, Med-Surgical Units, Surgical Unit, Observation Unit, Post Intensive Care Unit, Behavioral Health, Neonatal Intensive Care and Mother Baby. The CPDIR team looks forward to growing our program each year. Congratulations to all our nurse residents on their successful transition into nursing practice!
Chart: Clinical Hours Per Nursing Degree Level
Chart: Clinical Rotations: Total Hours by Degree
Chart: Total Active Affiliation Agreements with Placements
