Open AccessEducational Needs of Staff-Development Nurses in Japan
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of nursing and healthcare
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2475-529X
DOI - 10.33140/jnh/01/02/00001
Subject(s) - nursing , certification , professional development , needs assessment , quality (philosophy) , medicine , educational program , medical education , unit (ring theory) , psychology , perception , social science , philosophy , mathematics education , epistemology , sociology , political science , law , neuroscience
Background: Staff development for hospital nurses is a critical issue in the provision of quality patient care. Staffdevelopment nurses should have expertise in education in order to ensure its effectiveness. However, these nurses inJapan often do not have specialized training in this role. This study aimed to investigate the current status of workand educational needs of staff-development nurses in Japan with the purpose of designing a staff-developmentnurse educational program.Methods: A cross-sectional survey was administered to 281 randomly selected, certified nurse administrators. Thequestionnaire design was based on the standards of continuing education and group interviews, and was concernedwith the roles of staff-development nurses and accepted competencies for staff-development nurses.Results: Responses were obtained from 101 nurse administrators, 60% of whom worked in a hospital with a fulltime staff-development nurse. Eighty percent of the participants responded that their staff-development nurses wereactively engaged in assessing nurses’ needs and in planning, operating, and evaluating educational programs.Data on the perceptions of unit managers and nurses were frequently used in educational needs assessment andthe evaluation of the educational program’s effectiveness. Objective data, such as quality indicators, were not usedoften. Participants perceived that staff-development nurses should strengthen the roles of the educational needsassessment of the learner and the evaluation of programs. The most frequently mentioned competencies gainedthrough specialized education were analytical thinking, data analysis, and planning.Conclusion: The educational goal of staff-development nurses is systematic management of nurse-educationalprograms based on analysis and consideration of both subjective and objective data.