Celebrating Nursing Professional Development Week - September 12 to 18

As part of Nursing Professional Development Week, which we celebrate this year from September 12 to 18, we recognize our Nursing Professional Development Managers (NPDMs) here at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital. NPDMs are specialists in assessing learners’ needs, identifying opportunities to improve nursing practice, developing programs to address learning needs or practice issues and evaluating the effectiveness and outcomes of these programs (Smith & Harper, 2016).

This has been an incredible year within BWFH. Since January of 2021, over 200 Nursing Department staff have been onboarded to BWFH. In March of 2021, NPDMs supported over 150 staff in renewing Basic Life Support (BLS) skills required for work. In addition to orientation and BLS training, providing support and education in the clinical setting remains a priority. 

Professional Development was identified as a key lever for staff satisfaction in our original Magnet^® research and continues to be a hallmark of positive practice environments. BWFH’s NPDMs oversee a variety of clinical units and programs. With growing onboarding and recruitment and retention efforts, two new NPDM positions were created recently. Jennifer Capone, MSN, RN, focused on central activities such as orientation and transition to practice programs for nurses and support staff. Lauren Donovan, MSN, RN, focuses on support of nursing staff in Endoscopy, the Outpatient Infusion Center, the Pain Management Center and Cardiac Rehabilitation. 

Please take a moment to say Happy Nursing Professional Development Week to your NPDM! We are so grateful for their work to support the creation of positive professional practice environments and excellence in patient care.