Lifelong learning - Editorial

AORN Journal,  Sept, 2003  by Nancy J. Girard

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Staff member or unit educator development requires expert clinicians as teachers, regardless of their level of education, because it is critical that nurses become and remain competent in skills used in their area. They also must know how to think critically and quickly. Staff educators play a crucial role in providing this necessary continuing education. Teaching and learning principles are the same wherever they occur, but it is the system in which educators work that sets policy and procedures. For example, staff member development must consider the dictates of patient and hospital needs as well as accrediting bodies, such as the joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. Additionally, students in continuing education usually are nurses who are licensed and have at least the same basic knowledge and beginning nursing skills. Most unit educators serve a specific body, such as the OR, so all their students are similar and they can assume a level of knowledge that they can build on or expand.

CONCLUSION

Nurses entering health care today are generalist nurses, so individuals must continue their education as an ongoing activity. The rapid advances and changes in health care mean that they will never be able to stop learning.

One of the major ways preoperative nurses continue to learn is by reading the AORN Journal. One of the ways experienced nurses can help their colleagues continue to grow and learn is by sharing their experiences. Help your peers and contribute to someone's lifelong learning by writing an article today for the AORN Journal that reflects your experience and knowledge.

NOTE

(1.) P E Benner, From Novice to Expert: Excellence and Power in Clinical Nursing; Practice (Menlo Park, Calif: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co, Inc, 1984) 307.

NANCY J. GIRARD

RN, PHD, FAAN

EDITOR

COPYRIGHT 2003 Association of Operating Room Nurses, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group