Peer Mentorship: Implementation of a Resident Registered Nurse Anesthetist Mentorship Program

Nurse anesthesia residents experience high levels of stress while being enrolled in a post-baccalaureate nurse anesthesia program. Elevated levels of stress have been proven to limit one’s ability to learn and commit new material to memory, all while inhibiting their academic and clinical performance. This study represents a quality improvement project that implements a Peer Mentorship Program (PMP) into a major University in the New England area of the United States. The study utilizes descriptive statistics to determine if implementation of a peer mentorship program can help to decrease nurse anesthesia resident’s stress, while simultaneously increasing academic and clinical performance. Data gathered by the investigators of this study was composed of a Critical Action Point Checklist (CAPC); a set of objectives that were meant to be completed by the participants in order to help run a successful mentorship program. Additional data was collected using a Peer Mentorship Reflection Questionnaire at the end of the study to receive feedback about the Peer Mentorship Program. 56% of participants agreed that the Peer Mentorship Program helped to decrease stress during the study and 83.4% of participants agreed that they would like to see the Peer Mentorship Program continue for future cohorts at their nurse anesthesia program. The findings of this study suggest that more Nurse Anesthesia Programs should work to incorporate a Peer Mentorship Program for their nurse anesthesia residents to help develop safe, high-quality anesthesia providers for the future.

The Fine Art of Health Care: Visual Thinking Strategies for Interprofessional Skills Development in Graduate Nurse Anesthesia Education

Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) is a methodology designed to teach critical thinking, communication, and visual literacy. The Fine Art of Health Care is a VTS-based educational program that brings students from various health-care disciplines to the Lowe Art Museum at the University of Miami in Florida. Twenty-six nurse anesthesia, medical, physical therapy, nursing, and psychology students participated in the workshop during the 2016 fall semester. The students completed an anonymous survey to evaluate their experience. All participants agreed or strongly agreed that VTS helped them understand how to hone their observational and listening skills; 92% agreed that looking at and discussing art has merit with regards to collaborative practice; 96% agreed that VTS helped them improve their communication skills; and 93% found value in the VTS workshop because it provided opportunity to meet and have discussions with students from other disciplines. The arts and humanities have long been recognized as important tools for building multidisciplinary collaboration in health education. There is growing evidence that integrating the arts into the nursing curriculum can have powerful outcomes. These capabilities proved useful in the nurse anesthesia curriculum by allowing skillful conceptualization, and originality and leveling of the playing field for all health-care students.