Supporting Clinical Nurses in the Dissemination of Best Practices

Abstract

<p>The Best Practice Showcase at a large, academic medical center, coordinated by a Nursing Professional Development (NPD) practitioner, provides the support and structure for nurses to disseminate research and performance improvement projects to the interprofessional healthcare team through a formal poster presentation. The showcase began in 2010 as a National Nurses&rsquo; Week event and has evolved to incorporate formal training and mentoring for staff nurses. The event is judged by nursing leadership and nursing shared governance council members and is an opportunity to celebrate achievements.&lt;br /&gt; The NPD practitioners in the Center for Nursing Professional Development collaborated with the Nursing Clinical Research Center in 2013 to offer support related to abstract development and poster design. A formal education series was initiated in 2015 and open computer labs were offered to provide individualized mentoring. With the addition of the educational series, abstract submissions more than tripled from ten submissions in 2014 to thirty-six in 2015. Based on feedback from past judges, focused education was incorporated in 2016, to enhance the judges&rsquo; ability to evaluate abstracts and poster presentations.&lt;br /&gt; Teams participating are encouraged to collaborate with the Nursing Clinical Research Center to explore presentation opportunities at regional and national levels. Of the nineteen participants in 2013, thirty-seven percent of them presented externally; this increased to fifty percent for the 2014 presenters. This event demonstrates how the NPD practitioner can support nurses to improve the dissemination of knowledge and outcomes obtained through the organization&rsquo;s nursing research and performance improvement initiatives.</p>