Professional Development
Enhancing Professional Practice, Supporting Career Goals
St. Peter's nurses believe professional development is a lifelong process of active participation in learning activities that assist in developing and maintaining competence, enhancing professional practice, and supporting achievement of career goals.
Professional Goals and Annual Assessment
- An annual appraisal utilizes a self, peer, manager feedback system and documentation audits.
- Individual performance goals are mutually established by the nurse and the supervisor/manager at the time of the professional appraisal and re-evaluated on an ongoing basis.
Promotional Opportunities - Professional Advancement Program
Promotional opportunities are available through the Professional Nursing Practice program. RN III and RN IV can be achieved through sustained excellence in nursing practice.
- RN III uses her/ his expertise to serve as a role model, preceptor, and coach. The RN 3 is a certified nurse and assumes a leadership role within the clinical practice area.
- RN IV is a certified nurse with a Bachelor’s degree in nursing. She/he actively and positively influences the team and forms mentoring relationships; participates and leads activities that improve systems for quality patient care.
Grants/Scholarships
Through funding and administrative support, nurses at St. Peter's are assisted to continue their education and earn advanced degrees. Funding is offered through a variety of grants and scholarships. Nursing Scholarships are awarded three times a year to full- or part-time SPH employees enrolled in BS, MS or Doctoral Nursing Programs. Scholarship applications are reviewed by the Professional Practice Council. Awards are based on the applicant's performance review, essay response, and contributions to St. Peter's Hospital.
Certifications
Board Certification indicates a nurse's commitment to evidence-based, high quality professional nursing practice. Each March, nurses of St. Peter’s Hospital proudly celebrate Certified Nurses Day, honoring registered nurses from bedside to boardroom who have earned board certification in a specialty area.
St. Peter's encourages and supports national board certification for all nurses in the organization. Certification preparation classes, formal and informal, take place within the hospital.
Innovative Roles
Innovative Programs Ensure Evidence-Based Patient Education and Care
Diabetes Resource Nurse
To ensure that consistently accurate, evidence-based care and education are provided to the patients admitted to St. Peter’s Hospital with diabetes or in pre-diabetic status, an innovative Diabetes Resource Nurse (DRN) program has been developed in St. Peter’s.
Through the DRN program, bedside nurses learn best practices related to the education and care of patients newly diagnosed with diabetes as well as those who have lived with the disease for many years.
The DRNs return to their home units after completing the diabetes education series to act as expert resources for patients, their families and nursing colleagues, informing and instructing them about the most recent evidence-based practices in the care of the patient with diabetes.
Continuing education is provided to the DRNs throughout the year by the SPH Endocrine Team. The DRNs also collaborate with the hospital’s clinical care coordinators (C3s) to make sure newly diagnosed patients are referred to the community support they need.
Education and Preparation Programs
OR Orientation Program
Created to Prepare All Nurses, New Graduate to Experienced
St. Peter’s offers an 8-month orientation program for nurses entering the OR specialty area. New Graduates are welcome.
The program includes precepted classroom and clinical experiences. During the multi-week orientation program, nurses rotate through the varied OR specialties, learning the skills necessary to be a competent practitioner within the OR area.
St. Peter’s Health Partners’ (SPHP) Preceptor Workshops
Developed to Assist Staff to Welcome and Engage New Clinicians
Because St. Peter’s recognizes the importance of the preceptor to the new staff member, SPHP provides a one-day workshop for Clinical Staff who will act in this leadership role.
Nurse Residency Program
Offered to support transition from student to professional nurse
St. Peter’s Health Partners (SPHP) offers the Vizient/AACN Nurse Residency Program™ to all incoming new graduate nurses. The focus of this transition to practice program is on enhancement of the nurse resident’s knowledge, leadership skills, ability to analyze and use evidence, application of outcomes data to improve patient care, and professional development. The SPHP Nurse Residency Program groups nurse residents from St. Peter’s Hospital, Samaritan Hospital into teams that meet monthly during the first year of clinical practice.