Project Overview
Year 1 Project:
Title: So, you have been asked to be a Chatham University DNP Nursing Preceptor!
Challenge: Throughout the years, newly admitted DNP students have requested information they could provide to a potential DNP preceptor as soon as they received acceptance letters, deposited, and registered.
Students coming into the program understand they need a preceptor through high-level discussions with admissions. Many of the students want to get an early start on securing this mentor. However, they did not know the requirements and responsibilities to start this process – or even how to ask someone to fulfill this role. The preceptorship is not a 1:1 preceptorship as when they were pre-licensure and learning clinical skills-based training.
The students received a complete orientation and access to valuable resources. However, during the summer months, the administrative faculty and staff update the orientations and handbooks. These items are not often ready to go live until closer to the start of the fall semester, not when the student is accepted, deposits, and registers.
Therefore, it was determined if a stand-alone interactive “magazine” could be provided to the newly admitted student to provide to their preceptor, the tool would allow for a conversation, and finally, the “ask” to securing a commitment. The platform called ISSUU appeared to be a great fit. The technology was attractive because it leveraged flipbook technology vs. using a traditional static PDF to disseminate information. Upon closer review, ISSUU did not end up being an optimal choice. It was discovered that the end product needed to be embedded into a public website or posted on social media.
Therefore, another product was identified, called Canva. Canva is an online design and publishing tool. It was straightforward to use, and I enjoyed it so much, I upgraded to a pro-version to create facts sheets for a qualitative research study I am leading.
The end result was not a “magazine” but a “newsletter” that allowed students to give information to their potential preceptors. There are live links within the document. The newsletter is not as dynamic as I had hoped, but it made the information easy to read, inviting, and professional looking.
Project Planning
The planning consisted of identifying an issue that existed with the onboarding of new DNP students (I embraced my spirit of inquiry – channeling EBP!). I knew another approach to the existing workflow had to exist. To improve efficiency, emailing each student anytime they had a question became very time-consuming, especially when I reflected back on the student questions and saw repeating themes. Therefore, a newsletter was created listing common, historical FAQ’s. The professional goal was to provide the students with the information they were seeking in a comprehensive manner and improve professional satisfaction with the workflow for the practice experience team. Basic project management concepts were used, creating a timeline for identification of a solution (initiating), collection of FAQs, and the development of the newsletter (planning), and then setting a date for go-live (executing). Timing was important, as we only have admissions for the DNP program twice per year (fall and spring), there was no cost associated with the intervention. Finally, having a deliverable (scope) was key to address this common request from incoming students.
Project Implementation
The implementation of the tools use was very simple. The majority of the work went into identifying the best tool to get the “job done” and then the actual build of the newsletter pulling from historical inquiries from the students and learning the how to utilize the features of Canva. The implementation was quite simple – any time a student emailed with questions, we provided them the handout. Then, when official welcome emails were sent from the Practice Experience Team, we attached the newsletter to that welcome email.
Project Assessment
I assessed my project informally. When I provided the student the newsletter, many of them would email me back and tell me how valuable the tool was. It was exactly what they were looking for to assist with the process of securing a preceptor and understanding next steps.
Project Reflections and Next Steps
I feel that I had big ideas, and COVID-19 did put a hamper on having more than one idea to explore during my time in Technology Fellows. I would have loved to implement a magazine. However, that did not work out. I have learned that you need to be flexible anytime when implementing something new, as life can throw you lemons!
