Sammanfattning
The article describes the method we opted for in the post-anaesthesia care unit of Vejle Hospital for upskilling nursing staff.
The post-anaesthesia care unit nurses needed to be upskilled in order to meet the requirements made of them. The method chosen was for the post-anaesthesia care nurse to shadow a nurse from the anaesthesia unit, with a focus on the tasks that relatively rarely arise in a post-anaesthesia care unit, but which nurses still need to be familiar with in order to provide a high standard of care. The tools employed were theory and a skills chart.
To give the nurses a means of rating their own skills both before and after the skills-building days, we issued them with a self-efficacy form. (Self-efficacy is a personal mental processing and actioning resource in which thought processes and confidence in own abilities, as opposed to actual ability, facilitate behavioural change).
The nurses were asked to rate their skills within selected areas and the questionnaire was issued three times in total. The results from the questionnaires revealed that the nurses benefited greatly from attending the skills-building days, and gained greater confidence in performing more advanced tasks. Equally, we found that collaboration between the units improved.
We are consequently confident that this method can be employed in other departments where staff need upskilling and to improve their self-efficacy.