Determining indirect caregivers' contribution to patient care

It is critical to measure contributions of staff who are not direct caregivers so that organizations can continually maximize resource. Understanding the consumer's perceptions is necessary to identify activities that contribute to the perception of an effective CNE. An awareness of the values placed by consumers on education services helps the educators to focus their efforts on those activities with the greatest perceived value. If educators put their efforts toward valued activities, their services would be frequently used and the staff would be more willing to accept the information, thereby benefiting from the educator's expertise. Learning how a role directly benefits patient care helps nurses in leadership positions meet institutional objectives. It allows nurse leaders to ensure that the role is, in fact, contributing to care, and it is doing so to the fullest extent. This builds institutional support and value for the role. The process of evaluating the benefit also allows the educators to gain support and credibility among consumers and other individuals within the institution. This perpetuates the increased utilization and benefit of the role. Results of this project can be used as a guide in evaluating various roles. Understanding activities that are valued by consumers enables staff in the roles that are being evaluated to determine how and where they should focus their efforts. This is especially critical as staff is being asked to do more work with less time and must establish priorities in their ongoing workload. Finally, it is vital to identify ways of turning the invisible work that indirect caregivers provide into visible work.