Flipping the Conference: Continuing Education for Advanced Practice Nurses in the Emergency Care Setting

• Published in: Journal of emergency nursing Vol. 45; no. 2; pp. 194 - 196
• Main Authors: Carman, Margaret J., Switzer, Diane Fuller
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.03.2019; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Advanced practice nurses; Advanced Practice Nursing - education; Anesthetists; Certification; Classrooms; Clinical decision making; Congresses as Topic; Continuing education; Core competencies; Decision making; Education, Nursing, Continuing - organization & administration; Educational programs; Emergency medical care; Emergency Nursing - education; Emergency services; Gerontology; Humans; Job training; Medical personnel; Mental health; Midwives; Nurse practitioners; Nurse specialists; Nursing; Patients; Pediatrics; Quality of education; Simulation; Skill development; Skills; Ultrasonic imaging; Womens health
• ISSN: 0099-1767; 1527-2966
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jen.2018.12.012

Advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) are prepared in their graduate education to demonstrate competency by certifying in their selected role as a certified registered nurse anesthetist, certified nurse-midwife, clinical nurse specialist (CNS), or certified nurse practitioner to 1 of 6 populations (family/individual across the lifespan, adult-gerontology, pediatrics, neonatal, women’s health/gender-related, or psychiatric/mental health).1 Preparation in a specialty practice, such as emergency care, requires education and practice built upon and in addition to the education and practice of the APRN role and population focus.1 The population of emergency care providers is heterogenous, with a wide variety of postgraduate emergency specialized education options following completion of a primary nurse practitioner (NP) program. [...]in a national study of APRNs practicing within this specialty, the majority of participants reported that the bulk of their specialty training occurs through on-the-job training.2 For CNSs, one can design an educational program with emergency-specific education and clinical hours in the emergency setting designed to meet the ENA CNS core competencies.3 Emergency care continuing education programs designed for NPs who are either working or desire to work in the emergency setting are in demand with the new Emergency Nurse Practitioner Certification (ENP-C) Examination.4 A requirement for NPs who are striving to meet eligibility for the ENP-C examination via Option 14 consists of 30 continuing emergency care education hours in emergency care procedural skills. At the completion of an accredited APRN program, the graduate has been prepared to deliver care guided by core competencies for the role of NPs,5 CNSs6, and population-focused NP competencies.7 Competencies for the CNS and the ENP in the emergency care setting are maintained by ENA.3,8 In 2018, ENA demonstrated the commitment to continuing educational opportunities for APRNs by providing an emergency procedural and skills pre-session and a dedicated educational APRN track at the ENA 2018 annual conference. Because providing high-quality education within the confines of a few days at a conference may present logistical challenges, and learning may be limited in the volume of content delivered, the pre-session planning committee used a flipped classroom approach for both procedural skills education and in preparation for 2 simulation experiences.Use of the Flipped Classroom for Conference Learning The inaugural ENA 2018 APRN conference pre-session was intended to provide procedural skills education for novice as well as experienced nurse practitioners in emergency care.