A professional development programme for care home nurses in east London

Abstract

There is a need for the provision of professional development opportunities for nurses working within care homes in the UK especially at a time when there is a growing demand for nurses within both health and social care settings. This article presents the key findings from an evaluation of a short professional development programme that was offered to a group of care home nurses working in East London. The findings indicate that most of those who attended the programme reported that it was likely that their practice would improve as result.

Professional development and career planning for nurses working in care homes for older people: A scoping review

“…Two expert commentaries reported on challenges related to professional development and career planning for care home RNs (Devi et al, 2021 ; Santamaria & Lange, 2016 ). Four articles reported on bespoke professional development programmes for care home RNs (Aaron, 2011 ; Cramer et al, 2014 ; Dassel et al, 2019 ; Wasike et al, 2019 ). Three reviews of the literature addressed deterrents to participation in clinical education for care home RNs (Schweitzer & Krassa, 2010 ), experiences of care home RNs as clinical leaders and managers (Dwyer, 2011 ), and leadership and RNs working after‐hours in residential aged care facilities (Nhongo et al, 2018 ).…”

“…Caring well for older people requires specialist skills (Aaron, 2011 ; Cooper et al, 2017 ; Dassel et al, 2019 ; Dwyer, 2011 ; Wasike et al, 2019 ). Initial nurse preparation programmes were regarded as not exposing learners to gerontological care in the care home sector and not developing learners to care for older people living in care homes (Cooper et al, 2017 ), and a call was made to set a gold standard for care home nursing (Stanyon et al, 2017 ).…”

“…A healthy work environment that focuses on the development of clinical leaders can improve productivity and a holistic care approach (Dwyer, 2011 ). Feedback on Wasike et al's ( 2019 ) development programme for care home RNs in leadership roles included the valued contributions of role models in challenging stigma around choosing a nursing career in the sector. Specialist roles such as nurse practitioner (NP) and other specialist pathways were advocated (Dwyer, 2011 ; Spilsbury et al, 2015 ).…”

“…Specialist in-reach support, link nurses and external experts to deliver content and provide guidance were important for confidence development and to support the delivery of resident care, for example from specialist nurses, and general practitioners (Cooper et al, 2017;Spilsbury et al, 2015) and ongoing mentorship was considered essential (Fiset et al, 2017). In Cramer et al's (2014) social care, with calls for funding to promote and support these collaborations (Wasike et al, 2019).…”

“…Participants in Thompson (2015) study wanted to pursue university degrees for advanced practice, to advance their clinical practice and their careers, but some organisations lacked adequate opportunities to support these ambitions (Dwyer, 2011;Wasike et al, 2019).…”