Perspectives magazine is an annual glossy supporting the Mount Sinai Hospital Auxiliary, Mount Sinai Hospital and the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/468121
21 Education and Training for the development and operation of the new 217-bed, 45,000 square foot children's hospital in Hamad Medical City, a large, not-for-profit health-care complex in the heart of Doha, Qatar's capital city. Health professional staff provide expertise in areas including paediatric medicine, surgical services, interprofessional practice, research, and medical education. Dr. Ann Jefferies has visited Doha annually since 2011 to provide faculty development related to medical education and to assist postgraduate medical training programs in preparing for accreditation by the American College of Graduate Medical Education. Nurse and Respiratory Therapist Training Nurses new to the NICU are provided with an 8-day orientation and 3 months of supervised shifts. We run 3 orientation sessions a year consisting of in-class presentations from all disciplines, including a session from our Parent Partner and veteran parents. The supervised shifts allow nurses to experience the NICU, learn the skills they need, and gain confidence. Nurses work their way from novice to expert with support from the Nurse Clinician, Advanced Preceptor, and their colleagues. We also work with other programs and universities to provide education for nursing students and nurses upgrading their NICU skills, such as those attending the George Brown College NICU Nursing course. Respiratory therapists (RTs) in our department have two levels of training: general and advanced (core skills). Training occurs throughout the year depending on the hiring of new staff, maternity leave, and promotion of existing staff to NICU RT core status. For the general training program, respiratory therapists are provided with a training resource manual and spend a minimum of 2 weeks precepting with a NICU Core RT. After the initial training, the RT then works a series of shifts within the NICU environment where they manage a caseload with assistance, guidance, and support from the Resource RT, RT Educator, and NICU team. The advanced training can take up to a year and provides an RT with a minimum of 2 years critical care experience the opportunity to acquire skills in neonatal intubation, mentorship, newborn assessment, and advanced respiratory support and stabilization. RTs in the NICU also work with respiratory therapy students from Conestoga College, Dalhousie University, and the Michener Institute for Applied Health Sciences to achieve competency in entry to practice neonatal skills as outlined by the National Competency Profile for Respiratory Therapy. Caseroom RTs provide constant mentorship and guidance to a variety of clinicians including: paediatric residents, family practice residents, midwives, HSC ACTS team members, and paramedics. Other training programs in the NICU include the Neonatal Resuscitation Program, a peripherally inserted central catheter certification, training for transport nurses and those preparing to work as resuscitation room nurses or team leaders. The Neonatal Resuscitation Program is mandatory for all NICU staff and has been instrumental in bringing nurses, physicians, and RTs together as instructors to provide interdisciplinary teaching and strengthen our team work philosophy. This training program has also enabled the formation of relationships beyond the NICU with team members from the antenatal, labour and delivery, midwifery, and post-partum areas of the Women's and Infants' Health Program. Care practices in the NICU are always being improved and providing training to our staff of 175 nurses and 50 RTs is challenging. Recent innovations include new bedside monitors and computers, computerized order entry, mixed acuity care, skin and central line care bundles, Family Integrated Care, and a protocol for extremely low birth weight infants. In all instances we have used creative strategies to educate and train our staff including nurses teaching nurses, a learning café, education days, and via educational screensavers on the computers. In addition to staff training, we also engage in teaching parents and family members by answering questions at the bedside, teaching CPR to NICU parents and outpatients, having formal parent teaching rounds, and educating parents about oxygen use in their infant. The International Training Program in Neonatal-Perinatal Nursing in Shanghai Started in 2005 by Dr. Shoo Lee, this program is the nursing equivalent of the International Training Program in Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine. Each year, nurses from across the PRC enroll in the program at the Children's Hospital of Fudan University. A team of 2 nurses from Canada provides 1 month of intensive training in Shanghai. Trainees then attend 6 months of hands-on training at Canadian NICUs before returning home. The program is highly regarded in China and there is lack of capacity to accommodate all the applicants each year.