University of Utah College of Nursing (CON) Nurse Education, Practice, Quality & Retention Program (NEPQR) faculty in collaboration with the Association for Utah Community Health (AUCH), hosted an educational workshop for Utah RNs at the Utah County Department of Health.
The workshop, RN-Led Women’s Annual Well-Visits and Guideline Development in Ambulatory Settings, was designed to encourage and train Utah RNs to practice at the top of their skill and licensure, while increasing the capacity of primary care settings to offer up-to-date clinical experiences for CON students. The workshop emphasized the importance of providing equitable care to rural and vulnerable populations.
The in-person workshop was open to all CON community partners, with attendees representing the Moab Free Clinic, Carbon Medical Services, Utah County Health Department, Summit County Health Department, and Intermountain Healthcare.
“We spent time learning how everyone is caring for women in their work, what their passions are, and how they are going to use the training in their workplace. We also reviewed the didactic content and engaged in an on-site simulation on pap and pelvic exams,” said Brenda Luther, PhD, RN, Women’s Annual Well-Visit curriculum and simulation liaison.
“I have thought a lot about our day learning. The biggest take away for me was the reminder of why I went into nursing in the first place—hearing about everyone else's passion rekindled my own passion. I have been a nurse for over twenty years, and it is easy to ‘lose yourself’ in the day-to-day routines of nursing,” said Tisa Pendergrass, RN, BSN, Clinical Care Coordinator at Carbon Medical Service.
The workshop group also reviewed how to write a protocol of RN-Led cares related to any topic.
“We have learned from work with the American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing (AAACN) that ambulatory care gravely lacks evidence-based guidelines or protocols for RN-Led cares. This concern was echoed by our urban and rural clinical partners in Utah,” said Luther.
After the workshop, CON faculty expressed that they learned as much from their community partners as the partners learned from them.
“As in all community work, we learned more from our partners. Trauma-responsive care became a detailed and emotional discussion for all of us. It is estimated that one-in-four up to one-in-two women in the United States experience violence. That finding was resoundingly illuminated from our discussions, and demonstrated a need to add to our existing modules about trauma-responsive care for women,” said Luther.
NEPQR is now working to fund consultants to develop trauma-responsive care modules and trainings. The team plans to hold a webinar on trauma-responsive care in Spring 2023 that will include didactic content, case studies, and tools to help manage trauma-responsive care.
To expand access to workshop content, a virtual course was developed. The RN-Led Women's Well Visit Training course consists of four didactic modules developed by women’s health experts. The content of the course addresses pap smear screening, breast exams, family planning, and overall annual visit content.
“It was a wonderful training for nurses that work with women's health. What a great opportunity to get together and share these resources and information. This training was worth it at every level,” said Sonia Dale, RN, Wellness Clinic Bureau Director at Utah County Health Department.
