Flexible education a winning approach for Southern cross hospitals

An award-winning ‘blended delivery’ nursing course at Southern Cross Hospitals seeks to attract more nurses into operating rooms.

In September Southern Cross Hospitals was awarded a New Zealand Private Surgical Hospitals Association Leaders in Quality Award for innovation shown in developing surgical nursing expertise, with its ‘blended delivery’ Perioperative Nursing Course (PNC) judged as the winner of the Association’s Clinical Service Delivery Quality Award.

The not-for-profit private hospital network remodelled its successful PNC to create a new ‘blended delivery’ model, which piloted with an initial seven students in the first half of 2010. The new model enables nurses to complete some course components online, some in block courses, and the remaining clinical aspects in Southern Cross Hospitals over a shorter time period. The PNC provides practical, supportive training to build and reinforce the skills and capabilities OR nurses require.

Terry Moore, Chief Executive Officer for Southern Cross Hospitals, said the ongoing educational development of nursing staff was key to the organisation’s future.

“With more than 40% of the New Zealand nursing workforce aged 50 and over, OR nurses are in short supply. Rather than poach the nurses we need from other hospitals and shrink the available pool, it’s important to recruit, train and retain younger nurses, as well as develop the skills of nurses transferring to the operating room environment ourselves.

“We want to give those who have the desire to upskill the very best chance to do so, by offering a course that is flexible and responsive to their needs. Helping our employees maintain a good work-life balance is a key part of our work culture,” he said.

The PNC is offered to Registered Nurses working full-time within the Southern Cross Hospitals network, and is aimed at new graduates and registered nurses moving specialties. The course is part of a two-year commitment from participants which, in its present form, involves five months on the course followed by 19 months working within a perioperative setting.

Introduced in 2005, up until now the course has only been available in the Auckland region. The ‘blended delivery’ PNC is currently being reviewed for potential extension across the Southern Cross network.

The course has been highly successful in training and retaining graduates. During 2005-2009, there were 33 graduates of the PNC, of whom 28 remained employed at Southern Cross Hospitals at the end of that period.