Abstract
The Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO), through funding from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC), developed an Advanced Clinical Practice Fellowship (ACPF) program for registered nurses to promote nursing knowledge and expertise and to improve client outcomes in Ontario. To date 164 ACPF fellowships have been funded and a number of them have focused on pain. ACPF fellows receive joint funding from RNAO and the sponsoring organization and dedicate 450 hours to the fellowship. This unique program enabled two nurses from the CHEO to step away from the bedside and focus their time and attention on learning about paediatric pain. Through the mentorship of a University of Ottawa, School of Nursing faculty member, both nurses developed ambitious learning plans that acted as a road map to help them reach their personal learning goals. In addition, both fellows contributed substantially to the work of the hospital with respect to improving pain assessment and management practices in the areas of acute and chronic pain. The power of this program is that it provides practicing nurses with an opportunity to suspend their practice and to focus on reading, thinking, writing and expanding their clinical skill set around a topic that is salient to their clinical practice. The organization benefits from nurses that are newly energized and can better advocate for a system that supports evidence-based best practices. Two initiatives that came from the fellowships include a pain resource nurse program and nursing representation on a multidisciplinary quality improvement team to develop a chronic pain service. In this presentation we will describe the ACPF program and its impact on both the nurses and the organization with respect to improved pain practices.
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