Going into this fellowship, my goal was to increase my knowledge about evaluating current practice at an organizational level. Based on the findings, the next step was to develop an effective, multi-level education strategy to address the gaps and improve practice. As an Advanced Practice Nurse, this is an important part of my role, but not something that I had experience doing. By evaluating the outcomes of integrating the RNAO BPG on the Women’s Inpatient Unit, the result would be to change practice related to the assessment and management of pain. I believe that my goal was met.

Through this fellowship, I gained knowledge and experience related to writing a proposal to submit to the Research Ethics Board, differentiating research from quality improvement initiatives, developing methods of evaluation (a chart audit tool, focus group questions, client questionnaire), facilitating focus groups, learning how to use SPSS to enter data and eventually analyze it, audio-taping focus groups to gather actual participant quotes, beginning to analyze themes from the qualitative data, reviewing research methodology, creating consents, and learning about ethical research. Having a mentoring team with expertise in different kinds of research, education, and pain provided a rich learning opportunity.

I was able to visit Johns Hopkins Pain Program and compare and contrast what they provide to what is currently offered at my organization. It was exciting to see that there are opportunities to apply interventions that staff are familiar with in my program when working with women with PTSD—that they can use the same strategies to care for clients with chronic pain, such as dialectical behaviour therapy skills.

Learn more about Advanced Clinical/Practice Fellowships now.