How to Get Back to a Nursing Career After a Break
SKILL GAP TRAINING
What is skill gap in Nursing?
Skills gap refers to the difference between the skills required for the job and the skills nurses actually possesses. Because of skill gap nurses might not be able to perform the complete job. Nursing is a highly skilled profession which need continuous updating of knowledge and skills. Also, practical expertise is a key feature to excel in the field. Unfortunately, a gap in the career might negatively affect their hand skill and knowledge up date. Here is the importance of skill gap training and updating of knowledge. A skills gap is a gap between the skills an employee has and the skills he or she actually needs to perform a job well. Skills gaps vary depending on the job in question and the types of skills required for the job.
If you’ve taken a few years off from your nursing career; you might be looking at returning with a mix of apprehension and elation. Apprehension, because things change so quickly in nursing. Elation, because the majority of nurses report high career satisfaction. To make the transition back to work easier and less stressful, it pays to prepare for the challenges that returning nurses face.
Today, most Nurses who have gap in their clinical practice face an overwhelming problem to get a new opening in their career. It can be a brief detour in your career path. On the other hand, during this time you may be considering how you want to get back into the workforce. Majority of hospitals across India are not ready to hire Nurses with skill – gap. As a result, nurses even with ample of experience are also forced to join as a trainee.
What makes these scenarios daunting?
It’s the uncertainty factor and lack of confidence caused by the scenario. These are normal feelings to have given the circumstance. But that should not stop you from starting back into your nursing career! In order to solve this, NICE Academy introduce a new course for nurses who have gap in their career. Our institution is the first, who introduce this kind of training for nurses in Kerala.
Nursing Institute for Career Enhancement (NICE), the Centre of Excellence in Nursing, at KINFRA International Apparel Park, Trivandrum is a first-of-its-kind initiative in India which provides world-class training facilities for enhancement of the employability skills of nurses. KASE partnered with M/s. Trivandrum Specialists Hospital (SUT-NMC group), to impart advanced skills excellence program in nursing.
NICE develops program for nurses that integrate all these into a single curriculum. Nurses from NICE acquire international best practices, relevant skill training in infection prevention and control, quality and patient safety, basic and advanced cardiac life support (BLS, ACLS), emergency and critical care nursing, nursing documentation, training in soft skills and communication (English and Arabic), personality development, cultural adaptation and work ethics. Nurses will also be trained for government licensing exams of the Middle East like MOH (Ministry of Health), HAAD (Health Authority of Abu Dhabi), DHA (Dubai Health Authority) and Qatar Ministry of Health and language proficiency test like OET & IELTS
How to analyse skill gap?
- Identify missing clinical skills and develop a plan to fill them.
A skills gap, more specifically, is a gap between the skills your employees have and the skills they collectively need to succeed.
How to overcome a skills gap?
1.Identify your strengths and weaknesses.
2.Identify your field of interest in clinical nursing practice
3.Review and update your current job requirements.
4.Seek help to update the knowledge and clinical skills (Skill Gap Training)
5.Make a definite plan to overcome the issue.
6.Of course, confidence plays a major role to solve the issue in a greater extent.
Need of skill gap training for Nurses
Nurses plays an important role in health care system and they possess a vital position in multidisciplinary health care team. Critical thinking ability and evidence-based practice is essential in the field of clinical nursing practice. Unfortunately, a break in career might affect these abilities. In order to get updated after a long clinical practice gap; a well-structured training programme is necessary. In nursing science, simulation is used for teaching theoretical and clinical skills, while focusing on the promotion of the critical thinking. Simulation enables nurses to work in an environment closely resembling that of a hospital and helps them to regain healthcare and nursing experiences, even after they had gap in their profession. The nurses are able to put everything they have been taught into practice, cope with any difficulties and problems, and even make mistakes without causing damage, and all that in a safe environment, without any risk whatsoever for patients.
What includes in skill gap training?
The course is designed to expand existing knowledge and clinical skills to deliver high quality patient care.
- Review of concepts
- Infection control practices
- Patient safety
- Review of skills
- Nursing procedures
- Critical care Nursing
- Care of patient in special needs
- Emergency management of patients
- Therapeutic communication
- Legal and ethical practice in Nursing.
- Current trends in Nursing
- Nursing administration and management
What is the outcome of skill gap training?
On completion of the program students will be able to
- Update the knowledge and skills to the level in which they already had.
- Brush up the theories and concepts of nursing.
- Become refamiliarize with nursing procedures.
- Demonstrate all clinical procedures with independent status.
- Differentiate the clinical procedure patterns of each system.
- Early identify the physiological scarcity of patients
- Perform effective therapeutic communication
- Identify the clinical need of a patient.
- Identify and independently work with advanced medical equipment.
- Conduct neuro–muscular and physical examination.
- Work independently with Mechanical ventilator.
- Identify and prioritize medical and surgical emergencies.
- Practice infection control and prevention policies efficiently.
- Perform Sufficient medico – legal practice ability.
- Prioritise the clients based on their clinical need.
