Assessing the Effectiveness Between Nurse Educator and Clinical Coach Critical Care Training Programs for New...

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Critical Care Nursing
• Professional Development

Background:

• New graduate nurses require extensive clinical training in intensive care units (ICUs).
• Traditionally, peer nurses without formal training act as clinical coaches.
• The study setting transitioned to a formally trained clinical coach model from a nurse educator-led approach.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the effectiveness of nurse educator-led versus clinical coach-led ICU training for new graduate nurses.
• To evaluate differences in program pass rates, satisfaction, preparedness, turnover, and competence.

Main Methods:

• Comparative study design.
• Two groups of new graduate nurses: nurse educator-led program (n=114) and clinical coach-led program (n=166).
• Outcomes measured included program pass rate, satisfaction, preparedness, turnover, and competence.

Main Results:

• No statistically significant differences were observed between the nurse educator-led and clinical coach-led groups.
• All measured indicators of program effectiveness were comparable across both training models.

Conclusions:

• Both nurse educator-led and clinical coach-led training models are effective when appropriate training is provided.
• A clinical coaching model can address nurse educator shortages and meet the demand for trained ICU nurses.