Critical care education: experience with a community-based consortium approach

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Critical Care
• Healthcare Workforce Development

Background:

• Continuous influx of new orientees poses challenges for critical care educators.
• Cost containment and conflicting job priorities complicate orientation processes.
• Novice critical care nurses require specialized, comprehensive training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To discuss the background, rewards, and challenges of a community-wide Critical Care Nursing Internship Program (CCIP).
• To evaluate the effectiveness of a consortium-based educational model for novice critical care nurses.
• To compare the CCIP with the national American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN) Essentials of Critical Care Orientation (ECCO) Program.

Main Methods:

• Program description and historical overview of the San Diego AACN Chapter's CCIP.
• Analysis of program outcomes and participant feedback over 15 years.
• Comparative review of consortium-based education versus the national ECCO Program.

Main Results:

• The CCIP has successfully educated over 2,200 novice critical care nurses in San Diego County over 15 years.
• The program demonstrates a viable model for addressing critical care orientation challenges.
• Identified rewards and ongoing challenges provide insights for program improvement.

Conclusions:

• Consortium-based internship programs offer a robust solution for critical care nursing education.
• The CCIP model effectively supports novice nurses and addresses systemic educational hurdles.
• Further evaluation and comparison with national standards like ECCO are beneficial for optimizing critical care training.