Huston_Leadership Roles and Management Functions in Nursing,

Unit V Roles and Functions in Staffing

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1. Identify the desired knowledge or skills that the staff should have. 2. Identify the present level of knowledge or skill. 3. Determine the deficit of desired knowledge and skills. DISPLAY 16.5 S EQUENCE FOR DEVELOPING AN EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM

4. Identify the resources available to meet needs. 5. Make maximum use of available resources. 6. Evaluate and test outcomes after use of resources.

Evaluation of Staff Development Activities Because staff development includes participation and involvement from many departments, it may be very difficult to control the evaluation of staff development activities effectively. It would be easy for the personnel department, middle-level managers, and the education depart ment to “pass the buck” among one another for accountability regarding these activities. In addition, the evaluation of staff development must consist of more than merely having class participants fill out an evaluation form at the end of the class session. Evaluation of staff development should include the following four criteria: • Learner’s reaction . How did the learner perceive the orientation, the class, the training, or the preceptor? • Behavior change . What behavior change occurred because of the learning? Was the learning transferred? Testing someone at the end of a training or educational program does not confirm that the learning changed behavior. There needs to be some method of follow-up to observe if behavior change occurred. • Organizational impact . Although it is often difficult to measure how staff development activities affect the organization, efforts should be made to measure this criterion. Exam ples of measurements are assessing quality of care, medication errors, accidents, quality of clinical judgment, turnover, and productivity. • Cost-effectiveness . All staff development activities should be quantified in some manner. This is perhaps the most neglected aspect of accountability in staff development. All staff development activities should be evaluated for quality control, impact on the institution, and cost-effectiveness. Shared Responsibility for Implementing Evidence-Based Practice The IOM (2009) Roundtable on Evidence-Based Medicine set a goal that 90% of all clinical decisions would be supported by accurate, timely, and up-to-date information based on the best available evidence by the year 2020. Yet, the literature is replete with anecdotes suggesting that many providers do not yet implement EBP consistently or follow developed guidelines. Chapter 11 discussed the individual’s responsibility for a professional practice that was evidence based. However, the organization, as well as the individual, has a responsibility to promote best practices. Unfortunately, organizational cultures often do not support the nurse who seeks out and uses research to change long-standing practices rooted in tradition (Ford & Graves, 2023). The integrated leader-manager must create and support an organizational culture that values and uses research to improve clinical practice. One way that health care organizations can demonstrate their commitment to becoming a LO is to promote and facilitate professional practice that is evidence based because nurses