Description: The Emergency Nursing Internship Program at Jackson Health System was developed by the ED Nurse Educators across the multi hospital system. Participants vary in levels of nursing experience ranging from new graduate nurses to nurses without ED experience. The program begins with hospital and general nursing orientation and is followed by a comprehensive 12 week orientation to emergency nursing which includes 2 days of classroom instruction and 2 days of clinical experience each week. Prerequisite courses for all program participants include arrhythmia recognition, pain management, disaster awareness and moderate sedation. Students are given a CD at the start of the program which contains the course syllabus, class schedule, PowerPoint lectures, relevant research based articles and helpful emergency nursing links. Teaching modalities include instructor lead lecture, computer based learning, self study assignments, simulation lab activities and case study presentations. Group activities and learning games foster active learning and engage the participants while facilitating critical thinking skills, team building and self-confidence. Multi-disciplinary guest speakers also add variety and serve as subject matter experts that deliver timely information.

Evaluation and Outcomes: The Emergency Nursing Internship has created much interest given the demand for emergency trained nurses. Jackson Health System seeks to sustain the formal program that offers the clinical experience and didactic information needed for successful transition to specialty nursing practice. The ED nursing directors and managers appreciate the routine evaluations as performance reports also include motivation, participation and attendance which offer an employee profile or sampling of anticipated behavioral issues.

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