The project
NM4SAFETY is the first educational experience with an international scope whose objective is to strengthen the skills and knowledge of Nurse Managers. Financed by Erasmus+KA2 and coordinated by the University of Udine’s Department of Medicine – DAME, the project is aimed at making the nursing care safer.
Permanent disability and increasing hospital stays are, in fact, just few of the damages that a significant number of patients – according to international data from literature – suffers precisely during the delivery of hospital care. Out of this came the need for an effective action, to strengthen knowledge and skills of nursing professionals who play a key role in the patient care. Those professionals once known as ‘Head nurses’, have today been redefined as ‘Nurse Managers’.
The project is specifically thought for Nurse Managers that, within a task force or an hospital department, are responsible for the care of patients; these are key figures that, in order to manage the delicate challenge of patient safety, need a wide range of knowledge and skills to create a safe working environment in which the planning and development of best practices in human resources, leadership, teamwork and change management can be exchanged.
It is therefore fundamental to invest on the quality of the working environment to reduce adverse effects and inappropriate nursing care.
The NM4SAFETY project has four intellectual outputs and, in addition to the Italian company Tech4Care SRL, involves other international academic institutions such as Technologiko Panepistimio Kiprou (Cyprus), Zurcher Hochschule fur Angewandte Wissenschaften (Switzerland), Katolische Hochschule Mainz (Germany).
The objective is to build an educational program, defined by e-learning lectures, that the Coordinators from the four partners nations can access through a purposely created online platform, that allows blended learning methods and tools sharing. Furthermore, a toolkit will be developed to enhance the planning, the working environment and the patient safety in hospitals and in all the facilities across the region with hospitalization
PROJECT PHASES
NM4SAFETY provides the realization of a 4-phase program, aimed at the:
- Creation of a ‘professional toolkit’ for the participants;
- Development of a specific program for Nurse Managers;
- Creation of a networking online platform;
- Evaluation of the acquired knowledge;
Phase 1: THE “PROFESSIONAL TOOLKIT”
Creation and development of a professional toolkit including a set of tools to allow learners to strengthen their skills, enhance and evaluate the best practices to be used in their daily practice.
Phase 2: THE CURRICULUM
Development of the specific curriculum for Nurse Managers to implement knowledge and skills through blended learning activities (e-learning and live teaching lectures), advance management and leadership. The e-learning lectures will focus on strategies and tools to support patient safety and quality of hospital care (staffing and resources, good professional and interprofessional relationships, collaboration and communication, nurse autonomy and accountability, human resource planning tools, transformational leadership strategies, methods to improve the interprofessional and professional teamwork and cooperation).
Phase 3: THE PLATFORM
Creation of a networking online platform that will provide Nurse Managers from partner nations free access to the educational program. Upon completion of the course, participants will obtain an attendance certificate as well as an open-badge confirming their acquired knowledge.
Phase 4: THE EVALUATION
Implementation of the educational project and evaluation of the acquired learning.
