Purpose:
The purpose of this innovative project was to design and implement an educational program to ensure the proficiency of all intra-operative staff with surgical scrub and circulator fundamental skills for ophthalmic procedures. Additionally, the need for future education was evaluated.
Methods:
After discussions within the surgical service’s leadership team regarding content to include in the program, evidenced-based research was referenced, and the educational material was developed using constructivist and reflective pedagogical approaches. The content was then developed in an educational software platform and disseminated to staff weekly. Every Thursday morning, the Surgical Center intra-operative staff is allotted one hour for educational time. Over a five-week period, staff spent the first half-hour of the dedicated time period to complete their assigned interactive lesson (total of five lessons). When the lesson was completed, staff utilized the remaining allotted time to complete an online discussion activity to reinforce concepts learned in the lesson. Specific learning outcomes included: (1) identifying ophthalmology anatomy and proper instrumentation; (2) recognizing how to prep, drape, and apply a dressing; (3) identifying surgical complications and analyzing interventions to problem-solve; (4) recognizing how to use equipment and implants appropriately; and (5) recalling common medications associated with ophthalmic procedures. Self-reported staff knowledge with scrub and circulator fundamentals and identifying needs for further staff education were also assessed via survey. A separate survey that tested program content was administered to staff pre and post-program completion in order to assess proficiency.
Results:
Staff (n=8) participated in the pre-test and their score (up to 100%) was on average 74±11%, with a range of 60-93%; post-scores were 88±5%, with a range of 80-93%, p=0.002. All believed that new hires would benefit from the education. Most, 90%, reported they had acquired a skill, 80% would like more ophthalmology education, and most preferred learning content via the software platform as long as the material was interactive. Staff were also asked to evaluate if program learning outcomes were met using a 5 point Likert scale; scores ranged from 4.40 to 4.60.
Conclusion:
The results support that implementing an active, virtual learning environment results in an increase in knowledge and staff motivation to learn new material; these factors foster a work environment that leads to staff comfortably advocating for better patient outcomes and delivering best practice. Implications of this educational program that need to be further discussed are: more time for educators to develop unit-specific education, the need to deliver frequent needs assessments to staff, and allowing staff opportunity to practice and demonstrate learned skills in a safe environment. Though there is room for improvement, the findings from this educational program support that staff benefit when appropriate strategies are used to develop staff education. Similarly, the implementation of this active, virtual education program supports that staff not only like interactive education but also request more virtual, clinical-specific educational opportunities.