Award Report: Getting Magnetized: Search and Service Strategies for Nursing Excellence
The Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Manhattan and Bronx Health Sciences Librarians (BQSI/MB) held its Spring Meeting at Lenox Hill Hospital on April 19th, 2010. The continuing education program was the Medical Library Association (MLA) “Getting Magnetized: Search and Service Strategies for Nursing Excellence”. The MLA Instructor was Ms. Joy C. Kennedy, MLS, from the Health Resource Library, Northwest Community Hospital, Arlington Heights, Il. This continuing education program would not have been possible without the support of MARL small project grant which covered the cost of our Instructor fees and travel. We were all very pleased with the program and wonderful response.
Ms. Kennedy was extremely knowledgeable on the topic of magnet nursing. The Five ‘Model Components” of Magnetism, transformational leadership; structural empowerment; exemplary professional practice; new knowledge, innovation & improvements; empirical outcomes were all discussed at length including background, implementation and resources. Ms. Kennedy provided the class with handouts of the Power Point presentation; an extensive bibliography; and plenty of information to return to our prospective libraries ready to support nursing magnet initiatives.
The results of 29 evaluations returned at the conclusion of the class are as follows:
Instructor Rating
based on a 1-4 rating; 4 being excellent.
| Topic | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | No response |
| Subject Knowledge | 29 | ||||
| Well Prepared | 26 | 1 | 2 | ||
| Effective Presentation | 23 | 4 | 2 | ||
| Responsive to questions | 27 | 2 | |||
Program Evaluation
| Instructional Materials | Agree | Somewhat agree | Somewhat disagree | disagree | N/A |
| Were used effectively | 27 | 1 | |||
| Were relevant | 27 | ||||
| *Hands On sessions useful | 19 | 1 | 9 | ||
| Session Objectives | |||||
| Met my expectations | 25 | 3 | |||
| Session Content | |||||
| Was well organized | 29 | ||||
| Length was appropriate for course content | 19 | 8 | |||
| I acquired
Knowledge and skills I can use |
25 | 4 | |||
| Facility was conducive to learning | 28 | 1 |
* We had a couple of breakout sessions which may have been considered a “hands on session”.
The top three major strengths of the program were instructor scored 28; information gained scored 28; creative ideas scored 16. The overall rating was excellent and very well received.
Comments:
- Ideas and illustrations of what the instructor has done; audience participation excellent
- Examples by instructor and audience participants were very helpful
- Good class wonderful presenter-dynamic and knowledgeable
- Connecting materials presented to work of the librarian
- Slides were very helpful
- Ideas on how to be more involved in the magnet process/I felt inspired
- Instructor gave an excellent presentation relevant to librarians and nurses
- Handouts with websites input from other attendees were helpful
- Good brainstorming ideas
- Great background information to use in any situation
- Steps to follow in magnet application process most helpful
- Power point slides and anecdotal information were most helpful
The segment on ideas for library services for structural empowerment provided the librarians in attendance with concrete initiatives which encourage library outreach to our nursing programs. Involving our nurses in our collection development policies; supporting nursing research; encouraging library participation in Nurses Week; library newsletters should include a segment on nursing are all initiatives designed to support one of the largest departments in the hospital.
As a result of this continuing education course we as librarians are prepared to support our nursing programs whether or not the various institutions represented apply for and achieve Magnet Nursing status. This program was met with a great deal of enthusiasm and again we are grateful to NN/LM MARL small project grant for making this possible.
