Monday, 30 October 2017
Because of limited budgets and faculty shortage, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) has recommended the use of strategic partnerships between hospitals and nursing schools. A partnership is defined as an arrangement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. In the profession of nursing, strategic partnerships are relationships between educational and clinical practice settings that are establised to advance their mutual interests related to evidenced-based practice, education, and research. The many benefits of strategic partnerships include cost effectiveness, positive student learning in a safe environment, and opportunities for faculty members to work with a highly knowledgeable healthcare workforce. These partnerships offer opportunities to create a highly educated nursing workforce, bridge the faculty shortage gap, and strengthen clinical connections with area healthcare agencies. This presentation will discuss a recently initiated strategic partnership aimed at educating senior nursing students in hands-on advanced cardiac life support (ACLS). A one-day, clinical simulation, facilitated by healthcare agency nurse educators, ACLS instructors, and nursing faculty, was provided to allow students a hands-on experience with witnessing, running, and participating in a code blue situation. There were 40 students participating in the one-day simulation experience. Students were divided into groups of ten with a healthcare agency nurse educator, an ACLS instructor and a nursing faculty per group. A high fidelity mannequin, a code cart, and a simulated hospital room were utilized in the education experience. At the end of the day, a full code was called. The students were able to demonstrate completency in running a code blue situation. Each student was given a certificate of participation. This collaborative effort will be benificial to students as they graduate and enter the field of nursing as well as hospitals that are interviewing and hiring new graduates. Future plans for this collaboration, including facilitating continuing education of healthcare agency employees, will also be discussed.