Theme 3: Crossing Interprofessional, Intercultural, and Interpersonal
Boundaries in Knowledge Building
Shared Resources: Telementoring and Distributed Expertise
Telementoring
to support the development of advanced practice nurses
Christine Zywine, Blake Zywine, & Kelly O'Halloran, Hamilton Health Sciences, ON, Canada
Christine Zywine, Blake Zywine, & Kelly O'Halloran, Hamilton Health Sciences, ON, Canada
Advanced practice nursing (APN) in acute care hospitals has developed to meet complex client health needs. The Canadian Nurses Association (2002) defines advanced nursing practice as an advanced level of nursing that maximizes the use of in-depth nursing knowledge and skill extending the boundaries of nursing’s scope of practice contributing to nursing knowledge as well as the development and advancement of the profession. Advanced nursing practice includes the integration of research-based theory with expert nursing in a clinical specialty.
Hamilton Health Sciences committed to increasing the number of advance practice nursing roles for the purpose of advancing quality patient care. Recruitment of additional advanced practice nurses posed a challenge due to the lack of available qualified nurses. The minimal educational preparation for an acute care advanced practice nurse is a graduate degree in nursing. In Canada, only 1.6% of nurses are prepared at the graduate level. In response to the goal of increasing the numbers of advance practice nurses across the organization an Internship program was developed. The Internship addresses the shortage of qualified advanced practice nurses assisting Hamilton Health Sciences in meeting the Canadian Nurses Association standards for advance practice nursing roles while encouraging experienced nurses to further their education and clinical expertise.
In partnership with the Institute for Knowledge Innovation and Technology (OISE/UT), Hamilton Health Sciences implemented a participatory telementorship model to overcome barriers to knowledge building for the APN Interns. This creative initiative builds on previous attempts to foster communal telementorship among nurses in community and rehabilitation nursing practice . By linking mentors and mentees in a communal data base (Knowledge Forum), opportunities for collaborative learning and professional development are enhanced. This presentation will highlight participation patterns of the community of mentors and mentees (e.g, note reading activity, build-on activity, etc.). Design strategies that foster and impede the development of interrelationships, communal knowledge advancement and professional development will be discussed.
Poster' Slides