Slides presented at the International Alliance for Perioperative Best Practice ORNAC 23rd National & International Conference with IFPN April 21-25, 2013. This presentation outlined a pilot project from Saskatchewan to accelerate the graduation rate of Operating Room nurses. The second part of the presentation discusses mobile learning and development of perioperative nursing education programs.

1. International Alliance for Perioperative Best Practice
ORNAC 23rd National & International Conference with IFPN
April 21-25, 2013
©E.J. Ahlquist 2013

2.  Educational Programs are never static.
◦ Ie. SIAST Perioperative Nursing Program
↳Operating Room Techniques Program
 Drivers or emerging trends effect educational
design.
◦ Practice
◦ Environment
◦ Need
◦ Technology
◦ etc

3.  Background
 Program Overview
 Project Design
 Results
 Lessons Learned
 Educational Change

4.  Saskatchewan Surgical Initiative (SSI)
Sooner, Safer, Smarter
◦ Surgical wait time is a key concern for patients and
families.
◦ Goal to reduce wait times to less than 3months by
2014.
◦ Staged approach to reduction:
 <12 months,
 <6months, and
 <3months.

5.  SIAST developed a proposal to provide
additional educated Perioperative Nurses in
an expedited fashion.
 Collaboration with the Saskatoon Health
Region and the Saskatchewan Ministry of
Health.
 Highly successful
◦ Zero attrition
◦ Timely response to industry demand

6.  2 intakes per academic year (fall and winter).
1. Fall intake of 6 students
2. January intake of 12 students
 Provincial demand for graduates spiked.
◦ Provincial expectations
◦ Shift toward standardized education
◦ Utilization of Operating Rooms capacity provincially

8. Learning Method:
 6 theory courses delivered by distance
(asynchronous online).
 5 day psychomotor skills lab.
 10 weeks of clinical practice.
◦ 4 weeks of SIAST instructor led.
◦ 6 weeks of preceptor led.

9. Traditional “Pilot Project”
 Asynchronous online
theory.
◦ 23 weeks theory.
◦ Full-time employment.
◦ SIAST Instructor.
◦ Students online activities.
Ie. SKYPE™
◦ 5 day psychomotor skills
lab.
◦ 10 week clinical.
 Modified delivery
schedule:
◦ ⇓theory to10weeks.
◦ Salaried while studying.
◦ Saskatoon Instructor.
◦ Learning activities
hybridized.
◦ 5 day psychomotor skills
lab.
◦ 10 week clinical.

10.  Clinical Sequencing

12.  Complicated
◦ Macro level provincial needs.
◦ Unpredictable nature of requests.
◦ Managing partnership.
◦ Quality assurance.
 Established schedules
◦ Two traditional clinical sessions.
◦ Balanced recruitment.
◦ Managing intake locations.

13.  Secondary effects
 Expansion of clinical education locations.
 Enhanced standardization of education.
 RISK of becoming to Urban-centric.
 Enhanced or new relationships with Regional Health
Authorities.
 Opportunity…

17.  Previous online
learning experience.
 Demonstrated
computer literacy.
 Onsite orientation.
 Sufficient time.
 Positive feedback on IT
support.
 #1: Instructor support.

18.  21 graduates.
◦ Attrition rate: 0%
Therefore…
◦ Employment: 100%
 Student satisfaction.
◦ 100% of respondents would recommend this
approach to peers.
◦ 70% felt the length of time was sufficient.
 Most respondents wanted longer clinical education,
not theory.
 High academic performance.
◦ 88.8% average.

19. 1. Expensive!
2. Complicated.
a. Organization.
b. Responsibilities.
3. IT support.
4. Program support.
5. Selective screening.

20.  Not an effective long-term strategy.
 Expensive to deliver.
◦ Salary replacement
◦ Instructor time intensive
 Funding was provided for an annual increase in
programming.
 Long-term projections of need.
◦ Retirement
◦ Maternity leave
◦ Internal “churn”
 Awards/Recognitions
◦ SAHO Green Ribbon
◦ SHEA finalist

23.  Drivers or emerging trends effect educational
design.
◦ Practice
◦ Environment
◦ Need
◦ Technology
◦ etc

24.  There is continual changes in the clinical
practice environment.
Ie.
 Incremental changes
 Transformational changes

27.  Institutional policies reflect this approach.
◦ Minor Revision
◦ Major Revision
 Funding for change reflect policies.
 Opportunities…

28.  Many changes can occur in the educational
environment.
Ie.
 Leadership
 Physical location
 Culture
 Advances/changes

29.  A range of events or circumstances can effect
the need for change in education.
 The “need” identified in this project.
◦ Ministry direction effecting increased graduation
rates.

30.  The INTERNET.
◦ Mainstream
◦ Shapes our daily lives (ie. Texting, calendars,
mobile maps, etc)
◦ Distributed learning
◦ Massive Online Open Courses (ie. edX)
◦ Mobile learning
 Applications (Apps)

32. http://programs.siast.sk.ca/instrumentor/

33.  Mobile TSUNAMI.
 Students all have smart-phones.
◦ Integrated into daily life
Total Active Apps (currently available for download):
845,911
Total Inactive Apps (no longer available for download):
300,040
Total Apps Seen in US App Store: 1,145,951
Number of Active Publishers in the US App Store:
226,514

34.  Most Popular Categories
1 - Games (142,136 active)
2 - Education (90,861 active)
3 - Entertainment (75,655 active)
4 - Lifestyle (68,963 active)
5 – Books (55,823 active)

38.  Web based Application.
 Portable and compatible with multiple
devices.
◦ Ie. Desktop, laptop, tablet, smart-phones, etc
 Next step in the “evolution” of distance
education.
 Students are familiar with using Smart-
phones.
 Prototype stage- testing with end-users
◦ Ie. Students, health professionals, etc

39. Features:
 Canadian Content
 High resolution images
 Close-up images of instruments
 Laparoscopic instruments
◦ Types
◦ Assembly
 Audio pronunciation
 Authentic presentation

41. Design:
 End user focus.
◦ Need vs Directed
◦ Grass-roots vs Top-down
 Authentic presentation.
◦ Images, backgrounds, etc
◦ Audio pronunciation
◦ Minimized information overload
 Self-assessment of learning.
◦ Matched assessment to level of learning

42.  Innovative educational approach.
 Responding to expressed need.
◦ Ie. Out-dated and poor resolution images
 Dynamic resource.
◦ Updated images- 3D
◦ Video
◦ Additional graphics

44.  Education is never static.
 There will be continuous drivers for change.
◦ Incremental or transformational
 Open and Mobile education is here to stay.
 The focus of any educational program needs
to be on meeting the needs of learners.

45.  Thank you!!