• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

Tips from TSE: 'Just-in-time' method makes learning convenient

Staff Development Weekly: Insight on Evidence-Based Practice in Education, January 16, 2009

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Staff Development Weekly: Insight on Evidence-Based Practice in Education!

At the University of Utah Hospital, you'll sometimes walk into the staff break room and find   everyone huddled together, working on a four-question quiz about a new piece of equipment or supply.

When Sandra Bunn, RN, MSN, CRRN, rehab services educator for the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City, needs to communicate something to her nurses—such as the use of new tubing, for example—she'll often use what she calls "Just-in-Time" posters. The poster gives quick, easy-to-remember pieces of information, and is hung next to a tear-off pad. Nurses are expected to tear off a page and use the top as a quick reference until they get used to the new equipment or supply. The bottom half contains questions they must answer and turn in to Bunn to demonstrate they have read and digested the information.

When a new poster is put up in the break room—or the staff restroom—Bunn says managers and educators see a response immediately. "They see it right away and respond pretty quickly," she says, adding that if you put information in places where staff usually have a chance to sit for a quick break, they'll be more likely to take notice of it. "They don't have time to stand around reading things, so we put it where they are."

Editor's note: This excerpt was adapted from the January issue of The Staff Educator. Discover all the benefits of subscribing to The Staff Educator!

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Staff Development Weekly: Insight on Evidence-Based Practice in Education!

• Comment
• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive

Comments