This is a two-part, in-person CE Class from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (6 hours of CE credits).

Participants must be in attendance all day to receive the full 6 CEU CE credits.

Dates

Tuesday, June 6, 2023
Friday, July 28, 2023

Location

JW Marriott Chicago
151 West Adams Street
Chicago, Illinois 60603

Instructors:

• Michelle Mahon, RN
  Assistant Director of Nursing Practice, NNOC/NNU
• Rochelle Pardue-Okimoto, RN
  Nursing Practice Representative, NNOC/NNU

Part 1: Staffing Standards by Scope, Ratios, and Acuity: Promoting safe patient care standards at the bedside and beyond

Course Description

This class examines RN professional practice and patient advocacy role and responsibilities; analyzes the effectiveness of safe staffing standards based on individual patient acuity with RN ratios as the minimum; and addresses mechanisms through which RNs can build strong organizations to secure RN control over professional practice in acute care settings. The course will also provide an overview of the Illinois Safe Patient Limits Act identifies strategies that ensure safe patient care standards including safe staffing assignments.

Course Objectives

Upon completion of this class, participants will be able to: 

1. Identify the external forces that affect RN practice and patient advocacy duty and right;
2. Describe the critical importance of the RN collective patient advocacy role in protecting their patients, practice, and license; and
3. Name portions of the Illinois Nurse Practice Act which provide the direct-care RN the authority to advocate in the best interests of patients.

Part 2: The Impact of Technology on Professional RN Practice and Safe Staffing Standards

Course Description

This course examines the effects of technology-driven patient care — which includes the introduction of virtual nursing platforms, remote patient monitoring, and artificial intelligence (AI)—on professional RN practice and safe staffing standards. The course will also examine some industry-led initiatives that are facilitating the increase of remote models of care.

Course Objectives

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

1. Identify how information technology can interfere or interrupt the RN potential to provide safe, therapeutic, and individualized patient care;
2. Describe how unfettered use of technology will have a chilling effect on the RN's ability to exercise independent professional judgment in the interest of her/his patients; and
3. Plan collective patient advocacy strategies to ensure health care technologies are exclusively used to enhance patient care and nursing practice.

Please note: NNOC/NNU is taking all necessary precautions to ensure the safety and health of nurses, our patients, and our communities during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. All in-person course participants are required to be fully vaccinated, wear masks while indoors, and practice social distancing to the extent possible.

CE courses are free to National Nurses United members. Classes are only offered to direct-care and staff RNs.