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STAFF DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

Introduction

 Staff development is the process directed towards the personal and professional growth of nurses and
other personnel while they are employed by a health care agency.
 Staff development refers to all training and education provided by an employee to improve the
occupational and personal knowledge, skills and attitudes of vested employees.

Definition

Staff development refers to the processes, programs and activities through which every organization
develops, enhances and improves the skills, competencies and overall performance of its employees and
workers.

A process consisting of orientation, in-service education and continuing education for the people of
promoting the development of personnel within any employment setting, consistent with the goals and
responsibilities of the employment.( ANA)

Need for staff development:-

 Social change and scientific advancement

 Advancement in the field of science like medical science and technology
 To provide the opportunity for nurses to continually acquire and implement the knowledge, skills,
attitudes, ideals and valued essentials for the maintenance of high quality of nursing care:
– As part of an individuals long-term career growth.
– To add or improve skills needed in the short term
– Being necessary to fill gap in the past performance
– To change or correct long-held attitudes of employee
– Need to increase the productivity and quality of the work
– To motivate employees and to promote employee loyalty
– Fast growing organizations.

Goals

 Assist each employee (nurse) to improve performance in his/her position.

 Assist each employee (nurse) to acquire personal and professional abilities that maximize the
possibility of career advancement.

Objectives

 To increase employee productivity

 To ensure safe and effective patient care by nurses
 To ensure satisfactory job performance by personnel
 To orient the personnel to care objectives, job duties, personnel policies, and agency regulations
 To help employees cope with new practice role
 To help nurses to close the gap between present abilities and the scientific basis for nursing practice
that is broadening through research.

Steps of staff development program:

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1. Assess the educational needs of all staff members

2. Set priority
3. Develop general objectives for the staff development program
4. Determine the resources needed to reach the desired objectives
5. Develop a master calendar for an entire year
6. Develop and maintain staff development record system
7. Establish files on major educational topics
8. Regularly evaluate the staff development program

Resources:-

 Public libraries
 Audiovisual program in addition to many books and computers, research activities and speakers to
community groups
 Schools and universities
 Association Health and inter service agency
 Other nursing homes
 Ones own staff

Types of staff development:-

1. Induction Job
2. In-service training
3. orientation education
4. Training for Continuing
5. special education function

INDUCTION TRAINING:-

It is a brief, standardised indoctrination to an agency’s philosophy, purpose, policies and regulations given to
each worker during her or his first 2 or 3 days of employment in order to ensure his or her identification with
agency’s philosophy, goals and norms.

Need of induction training:-

 Increased retention of newly hire employees

 Improved employee morale and Increased productivity.

Steps in induction:-

1. Introduction
2. Tour of the other faculities employees, superiors and subordinates
3. Description
4. Departmental organizational visit functions
5. Orientation
6. Administration philosophy goals and policies and objectives procedures

JOB ORIENTATION:-
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It is an individualised training programme intended to acquaint a newly hired employee with job
responsibilities work place, clients and co-workers.

The process of creating awareness with an individual of his/her roles, responsibilities and relationships in the
new work situation

Components:-

 A new employee to his or her job setting so that he / she is aware of his/ her job responsibility and
expectation
 Present employee to the job responsibilities of his/ her expanded/ enriched role
 The old employees to the policy changes.

Types of orientation:-

 General orientation
 Specific orientation

Importance of orientation programme:-

 Provides essential, relevant and necessary information

 Helps employee to gain confidence
 Lessen the time for the employee to learn about new situations related to his/her job setting.
 Helps the new employee to develop a sense of belonging
 Eliminates :
Learning by trail and error
Passing of incorrect information by old employees and peers
Reduces misinterpretation
Mistakes and confusion
Apprehension
Help new employee in solving initial problems and adjust the new situation/environment
Acquaints her with personnel services readily with in the institution/community

Content of an orientation programme:-

The organisation and its environment Policies, rules and regulation Personnel Services Functions to be
undertaken

IN-SERVICE EDUCATION:-

Definition:-

In-service education is a planned learning experience provided by the employing agency for employees.

In service education is a planned educational experience provided in the job setting and closely identified
with services in order to help person perform more effectively as a person and as a worker.

Concept of in-service education:-

 Closely identified with services

 Help a person’s to improve performance effectively
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 Planned education activities

 Provided in a job setting

Need:-

 Social changes and scientific advancement

 Changes and advancement in the field of service
 Increased the demand of nursing services
 Consumer demand quality care
 Rapid changes in medical and nursing practice create a need for in service education. Increase
number of the people seeking health care as the population enlarges makes it necessary for the nurses
to function at her highest potential as quickly as possible.
 As health care delivery system become more complex, the need for continues skill training also
increased.

Aims:-

 Improvement of client through upgrading the services rendered with scientific principles.
 To keep in face in changing society to their needs
 Acquisition of new knowledge
 Improvement of performance
 To develop specific skills required for practice.
 To develop right concept of client care
 To maintain high standards of nursing
 To observe and bring change in staff members chances for promotion
 It reduces turnover, absenteeism
 To discover potentialities, to alert personnel in working environment

Types:-

 Centralized in-service training:- In nursing service department , one department will held
responsibility for improvement of knowledge, skills, practice of their nursing staff. They will devote
full time for in- service activities.
 Decentralized in-service education:- This is planned for staff members who work together, giving
care for clients with similar conditions and share similar goals.
 Combined in service approach:- In this, the higher nursing authorities and all staff development
occurs in proposed programme of education. They plan, conduct and evaluate the programme and
further plan their programme basing on the need arises.

Steps in in-service education:-

 Assessment: Pinpoint needs, prioritize needs, set training objectives, and develop criteria
 Implementation: Climatic check, actual conduction of training with ongoing monitoring
 Evaluation: Establishment of criteria, pre test to the participants, post test following completion of
the training or program. Observation on transfer of learning to the job, follow up studies for
assessment of extent of retention of learning.

CONTINUING EDUCATION:-
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“Continuing education is all the learning activities that occur after an individual has completed his/her basic
education.” (COOPER)

“The education which builds on previous education.”(SHANON)

Need for continuing education:-

 To ensure safe and effective nursing care as nurses need to keep abreast with interest, knowledge and
technical advances.
 To meet the needs of population
 To develop the nurses’ by updating their knowledge and prepare them for specialization
 For career advancement
 With the advancement of technology, new role change takes place and to play those roles, education
is required
 To acquire special skills
 Due to shortage of nurses (because their movement to abroad, more hospital and training college),
more knowledgeable person is required.

Functions of continuing education:-

 To meet the health needs and public expectations

 To develop the practicing abilities of the nurse
 To recognize gaps in knowledge
 To test abilities of participants to do formal academic study
 To improve the communication between the participants, faculty, community and health sector
 To shape or support university educational policies and practices
 To ensure the quality of education
 To grant the budget for extension studies
 To maintain the academic standards
 To provide opportunities for educational growth
 To maintain the roles as bed side nurses and to assume more supervisor, administrative, to specialize
and to generalize the practice
 To provide and prepare faculty who see continuing nursing education as a personal responsibility
 To provide a variety of continuing nursing education opportunities of high quality to nurses in both
education and service changes

TRAINING FOR SPECIFIC FUNCTION:-

Definition:-

This is concerned with developing expert technical or manual skills, communication and helps the personnel
to perform their functions effectively.

Objectives:

 To help the nursing personnel to perform correct methods and procedures with understanding
 Establishing standards and quality of nursing services
 Procedure to skill nurses to skilled nurses.

Types of skills:-
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1. Psychomotor skill
2. Cognitive skill
3. Teaching skills
4. Affective skill
5. Communication skill
6. Supervisory skills

Need for skill training:-

 Individual nurse needed to have greater freedom to choose the specific field of nursing in which she
would work
 Good work to be recognized and reward
 A venues of advancement and promotion need to be better development
 Fear of making mistakes

Standards of staff development programme (ANA)

Standard 1 – Organization and Administration

The nursing service department and the nursing staff development unit philosophy, purpose and goals
address the staff development needs of nursing personnel.

Standard II – Human Resources

Qualified administrative, educational and support personnel are provided to meet the learning and
developmental needs by nursing services personnel.

Standards III – Learner

Nursing staff development educators assist nursing personnel in identifying their learning needs and
planning learning activities to meet those needs.

Standard IV – Program Planning

Provides the unit systematically, plans and evaluate the overall nursing staff development program in
response to health care needs.

Standard V – Educational Design

Educational offering and learning experience are designed through the use of educational process and
incorporate adult education and learning principles.

Standard VI – Material Resources and Facilities

Material sources and facilities are adequate to achieve the goals and implement the functions of the overall
nursing staff development unit.

Standard VII – Records and Reports

The nursing staff development unit establishes and maintains a record keeping and report system

Standard VIII – Evaluation

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Evaluation is an integral ongoing and systematic process, which includes measuring the impact on the
learning

Standard IX – Consultation

Nursing staff development educators use the consultation process to facilitate and enhance achievement of
individual, departmental and organizational goals.

Standard X – Climate

Nursing staff development educators foster a climate which promotes open communication, learning and
professional growth.

Standard XI – Systematic Enquiring

Nursing staff development educators encourage systematic inquiry and applications of the results into
nursing practice.

Potential difficulties in staff development & training activities:-

 Lack of time
 Inadequate resources at disposal
 Under-funded training budgets
 Conflicting priorities
 Lack of Clarity about what should be done
 Failure to identify, or accept the need
 Shortfall in training skill or experience
 Fear that trained employee will leave the organization or will be poached by competitor
 Cynical attitude to Staff development- Not directly measurable
 Treated as Cost not investment

Methods of delivering staff development programme:-

Induction Physical tour of the faculities Group discussion Seminar Hand book and pamphlet