This section of the guidebook provides ideas about CEL and Faculty Development that emerged from the pilot project and the replication project.

How can training be used to support CEL-faculty partnerships?

The first training session provides an opportunity for faculty and CELs to get to know each other, the purposes of ECLEPs; roles of faculty, CELs, and students; and how together they will develop and nurture partnerships. This session also provides information on how training and implementation will proceed. Attention is given to the structure and design of the session to promote relationship development and model adult learning principles. In addition, the session provides information on what is new in education, in evidence-based practice, and in long-term care practice.

HINT: For the replication project, administrators were invited to attend the opening session focused on an overview of ECLEPs and partnership development. This provided richness to the session and helped to assure that all were on the same page.

What are the most effective ways to structure CEL-faculty training sessions?

Key goals for the CEL training include opportunities for faculty and CEL nurses to get to know each other and feel comfortable asking each other questions, commenting on ideas or situations about which they are uncertain, and recognizing each other as peers who can learn from each other. A highly interactive approach is desirable throughout the training and includes dyadic, small group, and whole group activities. The room should be arranged to encourage discussion by all participants.

What is New in Nursing Education?

Nursing education has changed significantly in the past 10 years. Part of this is due to the changing demands on the nursing profession and the need to prepare a new type of nurse. The curriculum used by many schools of nursing in Oregon is a competency-based curriculum developed through the Oregon Consortium for Nursing Education (OCNE). The OCNE curriculum reflects changes in our understanding about how people learn and our ability to use new technologies for teaching. As a result, clinical education has changed as well. Students are no longer placed in clinical settings to do "total patient care."

Clinical education has been redesigned. These are some types of learning activities now considered part of clinical learning:

• Focused learning activities (e.g., focusing on listening to lung sounds on numerous patients; giving immunizations in a clinic setting) .
• Concept-based learning activities (CBLAs) (e.g., learning about a specific concept. May include interviewing resident(s), reading several articles, reviewing chart documents etc., to answer a series of questions r/t a topic) CBLAs provide an opportunity for students to look at commonalities and variations in how specific concepts manifest in the practice setting.
• Case-based simulations (Simulation lab where students role playing responding as a nurse in a specific situation-perhaps diabetic hypoglycemia).
• Integrative experience (providing nursing care to a group of patients similar to a 'regular' staff nurse assignment. Requires the student to enact the 'total' RN role in a specific setting or with a specific population.

The rural replication faculty in southern Oregon identified several enduring understandings about nursing practice in the LTC setting. These faculty desire that all graduating students have experiences in LTC that facilitate these understandings.

What are the practical considerations in planning and implementing the CEL and faculty development training program?

1. Scheduling. Training sessions need to be scheduled at least two months in advance to secure dates. They should be spread out as much as possible to reduce burden on the LTC organization, but not be offered too far in advance of student placement. We found that monthly training beginning 3-4 months prior to student placements have worked well. Given that CELs are very busy people, frequent reminders are helpful.
2. Logistics. Training sessions are best held away from the clinical sites. We found that meetings at the sites resulted in interruptions such as nurses being pulled away from the training to attend to care issues. ECLEPs training programs are held at neutral sites familiar to most participants. Directions to meeting sites were included in all correspondence regarding the training session.
3. Honoring participants. CELs need and deserve recognition and support. Training sessions are designed to nurture participants by providing food, responding to training requests and feedback, and providing opportunities for networking. Training is often at the top of the list of support requested by staff nurses involved in student education. The ECLEPs training is designed to provide training support to long-term care nurses beyond information about student placement. For example, training sessions may include information about accessing evidence-based best practices, resident-centered care, and coaching-supervision that CELs could use in their LTC practice beyond their work with students.

A variety of resources are provided to facilities, including educational CD-ROMs and gerontologic reference books. Information about web-based resources is distributed at training sessions and posted on the ECLEPs website, www.ecleps.org. Throughout training sessions, "prizes" are offered and include nursing textbooks as well as 'fun' items such as coffee coupons and trinkets.

Pins designating nurses as "Clinical Education Liaisons" is a form of recognition given CELs at the end the training program (Brown Industries Inc.). Formal letters thanking CELs for their contribution to student education are sent to CELs, with copies to their administrators. Administrators also receive thank you letters.

HINT:Here is an example of what was in a packet at a CEL Training Session. CEL Training 7/16/08 Agenda CEL Contact Information Key Dates Teaching/Learning Materials-Factors that influence adult learning Evidence Based Practice Handout & Resource List Person Centered Care Handout Initiating Person-Centered Care Practices in Long-Term Care Facilities Article Nursing 321 Chronic Illness II Syllabus Nursing 321 Chronic Illness II CBLA on Transitions

What are examples of evidence-based training programs for nurses and faculty?

ECLEPs has used two established, evidence-based programs that both enhance faculty and CEL skill in working with students and provide opportunities for quality improvement and organizational development at the ECLEPs sites.

• Coaching Supervision: Introductory skills for supervisors in home and residential care was developed by PHI, an organization working to improve the quality of eldercare and disability services by improving the jobs of direct-care workers http://www.phinational.org.
• LEAP (Learn Empower Achieve Produce), developed by Mather Lifeways, is a train-the-trainer program that increases staff retention, enhanced relationships with residents and families, increased work effectiveness and job satisfaction http://www.matherlifeways.com/re_leap.asp.