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| Learning Objective #2: n/a |
Provision of educational internships is a significant, but necessary financial expenditure for healthcare facilities. Additionally,independent internships may lack quality and variety, as a single educator is generally responsible for developing and teaching content. Duplication of educational resources occurs as hospitals simultaneously provide internships to the same target audience. In March 1999, educators met and formed the Metroplex Perinatal Education Consortium (MPEC). Based on literature review, an Advisory Board, comprised of educators from six hospitals, was formed and service areas and lecture responsibilities defined. A central location was chosen as the class site and clinical and course objectives were developed utilizing our professional organization's Core Curriculums. Class time was limited to one day a week to allow participants ample opportunity for clinical application of classroom education. To validate the outcome of this educational initiative, the Performance Based Development System (PBDS) was used. To counter potential rater bias, Dorothy del Bueno, RN, PhD (developer of PBDS), agreed to rate PBDS assessments for each participant of the first two internship offerings. Assessment results indicated significant participant improvement between initial assessments and reassessments. The initial assessments revealed a 25% acceptable rating; however, post-internship assessment revealed 81% of the participants had acceptable assessment results. Extensive participant evaluation of each class and overall process was conducted with 100% of the participant indicating recommendation of the MPEC internship to colleagues. Additionally, significant financial savings of $2391.00 per intern participant was realized utilizing the MPEC internship model. The collaborative model presented with the MPEC consortium has resulted in multiple benefits. The participants receive quality education, educators receive mentoring within the group, and the facilities involved experience time and cost savings allowing educators to focus on issues in their institution during internships that they would not have had time to do using a traditional model.
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