More to Making Education Stick

The article entitled “Making Education Stick!” by Potts and Davis1 provided a sound summary of adult learning theory and encouraged educators to rethink our teaching strategies. The concept of making it stick in the article was defined as the ability of the learner to retain the information provided. However, I would comment that clinicians are often able to articulate the rationale of a clinical practice but are constantly challenged by its application into practice. The greatest barrier for a bedside clinician is the realistic application of the process at the point of care. An example of this is those patients who undergo conscious sedation in the emergency department and require an intense amount of monitoring and documentation. The current process includes an immense amount of resources and nursing time, both of which are premiums in the current crisis state of emergency departments. Unfortunately, it is not until an adverse event occurs that organizations are forced to revisit their processes and explore their feasibility. As the article suggests, an institution-wide educational vision needs to be created with a clear understanding of the value education has to an organization’s success. Despite inevitable dollars-and-cents implications, investment in educational initiatives is critical to sustaining competency and avoiding litigation.

Although educators can readily determine gaps in staff knowledge and formulate plans for training and/or remediation, the mode of content delivery is of most significance to staff and administration. Financial considerations of health care institutions have resulted in a reduction in the amount of nonproductive time, which includes staff education that is conducted outside the clinical setting. Although teaching at the point of care is relevant, meaningful, and cost-effective, if the content is not appropriate for the setting, the return on the investment is low and staff is not given an opportunity to make it stick, although staff will be expected to know, apply, and adhere to the standards and practices. As educators, creativity is essential and utilization of a variety of media is expected. Staff seek a variety of means to satisfy educational requirements at times that are convenient for them. The educator toolbox may include the use of E-mail, simulation, traveling story boards, and clinical scenarios. However, despite the achievement of content delivery, the true measure of success is sustainability and accountability.2 This cannot be accomplished in isolation. Rather, strong relationships with unit-based managers, quality management, and senior leadership is pivotal to the educator’s effectiveness and efficiency. As nurse educators, we can serve to bridge the chasm between the bedside and the boardroom by acting as champions for clinicians and consistently spreading the word of best practices as it relates to staff education in the hopes of improving staff performance and organizational growth.