Effects of Clinical Nurse Educator Professional Role Development: An Evidence-Based Quality Improvement Project

Area of Science:

• Nursing Professional Development
• Quality Improvement in Healthcare
• Clinical Nurse Education

Background:

• Centralization of clinical nurse educators (CNEs) from medical-surgical and critical care units in a rural Midwestern hospital led to significant role confusion and suboptimal role outcomes.
• Existing challenges in defining and executing the CNE role hindered effective integration and impact within the healthcare setting.

Purpose of the Study:

• To implement an evidence-based quality improvement project to clarify and enhance the role of CNEs.
• To integrate the Association of Nursing Professional Development's transition to practice fellowship and practice model into the CNE role.
• To evaluate the impact of the project on CNE self-assessed competency and key nurse-sensitive patient quality outcomes.

Main Methods:

• An evidence-based quality improvement project was designed and implemented.
• The project incorporated the Association of Nursing Professional Development's transition to practice fellowship and practice model.
• Outcomes measured included CNE self-assessed competency and three selected nurse-sensitive quality indicators.

Main Results:

• Results regarding the impact on nurse-sensitive quality outcomes were mixed.
• A positive trend was observed in CNEs' self-assessed competency following the project implementation.
• Evidence suggests that CNEs positively influenced patient quality outcomes.

Conclusions:

• The quality improvement project provided support for the positive influence of CNEs on patient quality outcomes.
• The initiative demonstrated an improvement in CNEs' self-assessed competency.
• Further investigation is warranted to fully elucidate the impact on specific nurse-sensitive quality outcomes.