Top 10 Patient Safety Concern: Challenges Transitioning Newly Trained Clinicians

July 18, 2024 | 12:00 p.m. ET

Overview 

Challenges transitioning newly trained clinicians from education to clinical practice tops ECRI's 2024 list of 10 patient safety concerns. ECRI safety experts compiled the report by drawing on evidence-based research, data, and expert insights. Studies show that the pandemic disrupted the traditional hands-on, in-person educational experiences of new clinicians, an issue compounded by healthcare workforce shortages. According to ECRI experts, without sufficient preparation, support, and training throughout the transition into practice, new clinicians may experience loss of confidence, burnout, and reduced mindfulness around culture of safety.

During this webinar, safety leaders will discuss strategies that Canadian healthcare leaders can implement to address these concerns.

Learning Objectives

During this webinar, we discuss:

• Post pandemic contributing factors to challenges of transitioning newly trained clinicians from education to practice
• The impact these factors have on patient safety culture and adverse event rates
• The importance of approaching improvement with a multisystem-level response rather than a focus on the individual
• Strategies to engage healthcare leaders in addressing the challenges for newly transitioned clinicians

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Speakers:

Shannon Davila, MSN, RN, CPPS, CIC, CPHQ, FAPIC

Executive Director, Total Systems Safety, ECRI

Shannon currently serves as the Executive Director of ECRI's Total Systems Safety. With a clinical background in adult critical care nursing, Shannon specializes in infection prevention, patient safety, and healthcare quality improvement. She currently sits on the National Steering Committee for Patient Safety. She has authored a book and published several articles that focus on the importance of infection prevention and patient safety. In 2016, Shannon was honored with the APIC Heroes of Infection Prevention Award.

Shannon has served in the U.S. Air Force and is appointed to sit on the New Jersey Commission for Women Veterans. Shannon is certified in just culture, patient safety, infection control, and healthcare quality, as well as a TeamSTEPPS Master Trainer and High Reliability coach. She received her BSN from the University of Southern Maine and her MSN from Walden University. In 2020, she was designated by APIC as a fellow in infection prevention (FAPIC).

Judy Boychuk Duchscher, RN, BScN, MN, PhD

Dr. Judy Boychuk Duchscher RN, BScN, MN, PhD

Adjunct Professor, Thompson Rivers University School of Nursing Director, Nursing The Future

Principal Investigator, CASN Nurse Residency Program (2023-2027)

After graduating with a diploma in nursing in 1989, Dr. Duchscher’s early career was focused on developing expertise as a direct care nurse, researcher, leader and educator in cardiothoracic and high acuity (critical care) contexts. Instrumental to her early development was a 10-year tenure developing and coordinating heart, lung and multi-organ donor transplant teams across Canada and the United States. Judy’s commitment to advanced education can be seen in her acquisition of a Post-Graduate Diploma in Intensive Care Nursing from the University of Manitoba, a Diploma in Cardiovascular Nursing from Stanford University in California, a Clinical Transplant Coordinator Diploma from John’s Hopkins in Baltimore, Critical Care Registered Nurse (CCRN) certification through the American Association of Critical Care Nursing, a Post-RN Baccalaureate and Master’s degree in nursing from the University of Saskatchewan and a PhD from the University of Alberta. For the past 25 years Dr. Duchscher has been an active researcher and consultant in the area of new graduate professional role transition – work for which she has received 33 national and international grants, awards and scholarships. The findings of her research generated a theory of Transition Shock and a model of the Stages of Transition, constructs that are being used globally in the preparation, orientation, transition, integration and stabilization of the newly graduated nurse. Most recently Dr. Duchscher completed the development of the Duchscher Professional Role Transition Scale © based on the tenets of transition shock. Dr. Duchscher has published more than 22 peer-reviewed articles, 2 books, 13 book chapters and delivered over 400 keynote addresses and workshops throughout Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Asia on the topic of new nurse integration. Dr. Duchscher founded and now serves as the Director of a non-profit nursing organization entitled Nursing The Future (NTF). For 10 years this provincially funded (Saskatchewan Ministry of Health) organization served as a bridge between the ideals taught in undergraduate nursing education and the realities of the ‘real’ world of professional practice, offering grassroots support to graduates struggling with their entry into the workplace, leadership opportunities to students and new graduates who led transition support networks across Canada, and an international conference that supported knowledge translation and dissemination on the topic of professional role transition. After taking a momentary break in 2014 to return to acute-care where she managed a 41-bed telemetry unit, Dr. Duchscher returned to academia in 2018 as an Associate Professor at Thompson Rivers University and re-engaged in her work with new nurses. In 2020 she was seconded by the Canadian Nurses Foundation to reestablish NTF ™ as the national platform of support for new nurses in Canada. Duchscher is the current Director of NTF and the Principal Investigator on a 4-year Health Canada grant to establish a Canadian National New Graduate Nurse Residency Program in collaboration with the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (CASN). Dr. Duchscher maintains that “it is the vision, creativity and passionate commitment of these young professionals, supported by the expert knowledge and practice experience of their senior mentors that will drive nursing and healthcare forward”.

Kelly Smith, PhD

Michael Garron Chair in Patient Oriented Research, Chief Scientific Officer, Interim, Michael Garron Hospital

Associate Professor, Health Systems Research, University of Toronto

As the inaugural Michael Garron Chair in Patient Oriented Research and Interim Chief Scientific Officer at the Michael Garron Hospital and Associate Professor and Co-Lead for Outcomes & Evaluation in the Institute of Health Policy, Management, & Evaluation Graduate Program at the University of Toronto, Dr. Smith’s research focuses on coproducing practical solutions to challenges of healthcare delivery with a focus on patient safety through the application of improvement science. Dr. Smith is a leading investigator in patient-oriented research, forging partnerships with patients to codesign research and innovations to improve the quality and safety of healthcare delivery. Dr. Smith is a leading researcher funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ, US) through the Patient Partnered Diagnostic Center of Excellence and a Patient Safety Learning Laboratory, aiming to identify the challenges for women in receiving an accurate, timely, and communicated diagnosis of heart disease. Dr. Smith is one of the architects of innovative patient safety programs including the Seven Pillars, AHRQ’s CANDOR, the Guide to Improving Patient Safety in Primary Care Settings by Engaging Patients and Families, and the Toolkit for Engaging Patients to Improve Diagnostic Safety. Dr. Smith has led large-scale implementation and evaluation projects for clinics, hospitals, health centers, and health systems across the U.S. that aim to better integrate evidence into practice.