How are we as nurses going to keep up with our required learning and competencies? It’s a lifelong battle to get the number of CEU’s and then, let’s not forget, the stuff we need just to function in our respective jobs. I’ve spoken to a lot of my peers concerning this issue and we all say, we have too much to do just to stay current and all the education and required competencies are taking us away from our patient’s bedside. The sheer amount of required education has more than doubled for me in the last 25 years.
With that said, how do we do it? Upon researching this topic I found a lot of questions surface as to what it is to be competent and having competency. These are not the same, as stated by McConnell, (1998). “Competence is the potential ability, a capability to function in a given situation” and “Competency focuses on your actual performance in a situation”. Competency starts first with your college or basic level of education. This marks the beginning of a lifelong learning journey. The most appropriate method depends on what needs to be learned. According to McConnell, (1998), “your competence makes you capable of fulfilling your job responsibilities. Competency means, however, that you fulfill your job as expected”.
There are many methods or types of instruction. Multi sensory stimulation: hands on learning as an example, is best for increasing skill and retention. The more senses you involve the more likely you will retain this information. I like the statement, See one, Do one, Teach one. An example of this type of learning is annual CPR training. In the ICU at CCHMC, we just finished one of our annual competencies. We were educated on the glucometer machine. We were updated on how to do a blood sugar test, by reading a short blackboard education and then tested on our knowledge. I then had to return demonstrate to our unit educator how to run