The preparation-practice gap is a challenge that has faced the nursing profession for years. Efforts to close this gap can be justified on the hopes of decreasing turnover (and its attendant costs), boosting morale of novice nurses and their preceptors, decreasing stress among the novice nurses, and improving patient safety.

Nurse leaders need real-time, accurate data to design care delivery models and make decisions that reflect the patient populations they serve. To support nurse leader practice and optimize patient care, we developed a unit profile dashboard to describe the unique characteristics of patient populations cared for on each clinical unit at our hospital. In this article, we describe dashboard development, challenges, use cases, and plans for data analytics to further advance nursing practice.

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Trauma is a leading cause of death in the United States, and uncontrolled hemorrhage is often the primary cause of mortality. Massive transfusions provide lifesaving treatment for the bleeding trauma patient; yet, this is not a benign intervention. Calcium levels can be significantly decreased with rapidly transfused blood products due to the citrate preservative that is added. Citrate binds to the patient's endogenous calcium when blood products are administered, rendering calcium inactive. As a result, undesirable physiological effects can occur. Although there is a plethora of evidence reporting the negative effects of hypocalcemia during resuscitation, the research for standardization of calcium monitoring and replacement during a massive transfusion event is less robust. Consequently, monitoring and replacement of this vital electrolyte are often overlooked. Trauma department employees at an urban academic hospital were given a pretest to assess their knowledge of calcium monitoring and replacement during a massive transfusion. On the basis of test results and a need for staff education, a short, animated video was designed and distributed for viewing. Following the educational video, a posttest was administered and yielded higher scores when compared with the pretest (p = .001). Lack of knowledge and national standards may be root causes for hypocalcemia. Educational interventions such as innovative, brief videos can be effective for enhancing staff members' knowledge and improving patient care.

Objective: To develop and implement an evidence-based preceptor program that improves satisfaction and competency among pediatric intensive care nurses. The preparation-practice gap-defined as the discrepancy between new graduates' abilities and the demands of their first jobs-increases stress, turnover, costs and medical errors. Preceptor programs and strong preceptor teaching might be able to narrow this gap. Methods: We developed, implemented and evaluated a Preceptor Support Program to bridge the preparation-practice gap: The Preceptor Support Program. This program integrated electronic progress monitoring and communication; preceptor huddles; checklists; online resources and hands-on teaching materials. Improvements in competency and satisfaction were measured, using pre/post testing for 34 preceptors. For 30 novice nurses, satisfaction ratings were obtained and competency was measured with pre/post administration of the Basic Knowledge Assessment Test (BKAT). Results: Novice nurse BKAT scores (competency measurement) increased from 73 to 83 (p < .001). Novice nurse satisfaction increased from 3.1 to 3.6. Preceptor satisfaction increased from 3.0 to 3.2 (p = .04) and preceptor competence was increased from 4.7 to 4.8. Conclusions: Our evidence-based Preceptor Support Program improved satisfaction and competency for both the preceptors and novice nurses in our Pediatric ICU.