Developing a Post-graduate E-mentoring Program
This research describes post-graduate mentoring of advance nurse practitioners through the Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) model. This model would allow for a tele-mentoring program providing ongoing education and collaborative patient care consultation similar to the functions of a residency program availing centralized support resources at the University of New Mexico (UNM) to post-graduate nurse practitioners in rural areas. The program could support maintenance of post-graduate clinical confidence through the integration of mentoring as well as cultivating knowledge currency in clinical practice. Questions to be explored include: what does it mean to cultivate lifelong learning, what are the expectations for our students to practice in the field, and what tools are needed to create and maintain a cadre of primary care providers that could improve recruitment and retention in rural underserved areas, including promotion of inter-professional healthcare team development.
Rationale/Background:
The New Mexico state legislature increased funding to the UNM College of Nursing APN program in the spring of 2014 to train a larger cohort of APNs as primary care providers to tackle the numerous challenges and needs of health care in rural communities. New Mexico is the fifth largest state in the United States with approximately 2 million people, half of whom reside outside the Albuquerque metropolitan area. With the state’s healthcare centralized to Albuquerque, there is an enormous challenge for health care delivery to rural residents. A review of the research literature reveals that rural retention and recruitment issues for nurse practitioners include a common theme of a lack of professional support. This research and program development is intended to explore the potential of e-mentoring as a mechanism of professional support, and its effect on rural recruitment and retention.
Brief description:
The mentorship program will be presented using an online e-mentoring platform developed by the ECHO Project. In the final semester of the 2015 family nurse practitioner program, this platform will be used for students to present cases rather than face to face. On graduation, the 90 minute module will be run every 2 weeks allowing for graduates to present live case studies in a HIPAA-secure environment to an interprofessional panel of experienced clinicians. Continuing education units will be provided as part of the module for additional participation motivation. Data regarding skill and knowledge deficits in the field will be collected from the modules and used to inform the UNM College of Nursing APN curriculum.
Conclusions:
Professional support is an important aspect of recruitment and retention. Characteristics to develop in graduates include confidence, involvement in lifelong learning, and ongoing development of critical thinking skills. By developing and offering access to a broad group of experts and clinical references, graduates will have an opportunity to continue their learning. It is hoped that this will improve their skill sets, and boost their confidence, as well as improve rural area recruitment and retention resulting in an improved quality of healthcare to underserved rural populations in the state.