Conferences, Presentations, and Community-Based Care Nursing Reflections 

“People often say nursing is ‘survival of the fittest’,” shared Dawne Shoenthal, Oregon Center for Nursing’s Program Director in a presentation on nurturing a resilient workforce.  

“But, there is also a quote from the same man, evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin, that says, ‘those who survive are in community’.” 

In this blog post, NurseLearn is reflecting on just that—community: the importance of nurses in our community settings, NurseLearn’s recent activity in the nursing and community-based care community at conferences, and NurseLearn’s role in preserving, fostering, and strengthening the community-based care nursing community. 

This month, the NurseLearn team hit the town. And by “the town”, we mean the Oregon community-based care and nursing landscape. 

NurseLearn attended two conferences related to long-term care and nursing, the first being the Oregon Health Care Association’s 2024 Spring Expo. 

OHCA – 2024 Spring Expo 

The conference brought together nearly 600 actors in long-term care from all corners of the state: community-based care nurses, care staff, facility administrators, and more. 

It was a fast-paced event, as attendees buzzed through the aisles to visit exhibitor booths, collected prizes, entered raffles (shoutout to nurses Tiffany and Jerome for winning NurseLearn’s raffle prizes!), and mingled with their fellow long-term care community members. 

At NurseLearn’s informational booth, NurseLearn connected with attendees, discussing the importance of providing support to nurses in community-based care (CBC) settings and, importantly, hosting a continuous game of mini golf with passersby.  

The NurseLearn team had the pleasure of introducing attendees to NurseLearn’s Enhanced Program, a first-of-its-kind free education and training program that prepares nurses for the unique challenges in CBC settings.  

The responses the NurseLearn team received from CBC nurses were heard loud and clear: community-based care nurses are craving additional support in their roles.

Across almost every conversation, nurses highlighted a need for support in understanding survey regulations and nursing standards, especially those standards and regulations related to significant change of condition and RN delegation.  

Discussing the one-on-one mentorship provided with NurseLearn’s Enhanced Program, our expert nurse mentors explained how they provide guidance with NurseLearn modules and day-to-day challenges in communities for participants, such as preparing for survey. In addition, mentors shared that NurseLearn brings in state surveyors for technical assistance sessions to dive deeper into state survey regulations and provide nurses an opportunity to ask any remaining questions. Ooo’s and ahh’s ensued. 

Also at the conference, the NurseLearn team met several of the nurses currently enrolled in NurseLearn’s Enhanced Program for the first time face to face. Here’s to building CBC community! 

OCN – Nursing Practice Transitions Conference 

Next, the NurseLearn team travelled to Springfield, Oregon, to the beautiful PeaceHealth Hospital. There, the Oregon Center for Nursing’s Nursing Practice Transitions Conference convened nurse leaders and educators from various nursing sectors across the state.  

This time, NurseLearn did more than just host a booth and connect with conference goers.  

Though, the NurseLearn team did host a booth at this conference as well. And, importantly, sparked endless joy with the mini golf set. 

Shortly after arriving, NurseLearn was up! July Lumague-Test, NurseLearn’s Lead Nurse Mentor, took the podium to give a powerful presentation on the need to establish community-based care nursing as a specialty field in order to create tangible and effective pathways into the field.  

How do we establish community-based care (CBC) as a specialty field?  

It starts with providing education and training pathways for nurses that provide nurses with the skills and knowledge needed to thrive in CBC settings. It starts with building a network of CBC nurses and nurse mentors who can learn from each other. It starts with increasing clinical placements for student nurses in CBC settings. It starts with assessing and analyzing challenges that the CBC workforce faces.  

And that’s why NurseLearn is launching projects in addition to its free educational programs for nurses, the Schools of Nursing project and Employer Forums project. More to come on these in the coming months. For updates, sign up for our e-mailing list! 

After presenting, the NurseLearn team got to take a big sigh of relief and enjoy some of the other presenters, notably, iconic nursing academic and author of “From Novice to Expert: Excellence and Power in Clinical Nursing Practice”, Dr. Patricia Brenner. 

There in the flesh, Dr. Brenner walked the crowd through the stages of her “Novice to Expert” continuum, which describes the progression of nurses from beginners with limited knowledge and experience to highly skilled practitioners who can intuitively grasp complex clinical situations. 

In her book, Dr. Benner emphasizes the importance of experiential learning, reflective practice, and mentorship in nurturing nursing expertise. She argues that expertise goes beyond technical proficiency to encompass intuitive understanding, clinical judgment, and the ability to adapt to diverse and unpredictable healthcare scenarios.  

Throughout the book, Dr. Benner underscores the significance of continuous learning and professional growth in achieving excellence in nursing. 

One thing stood above the rest: the importance of learning from other nurses of all levels at every point in one’s nursing career. At NurseLearn, that is the kind of environment we aim to create—one where nurses and nurse mentors are in constant dialogue. 

Meanwhile, in the Oregon Center for Nursing’s presentation on Nurturing a Resilient Nursing Workforce, the group explored how to cultivate occupational wellness and workplace embeddedness.   

A comment from one of the presentation’s attendees stuck with the NurseLearn team: “Everybody owns culture and has a responsibility to foster a beneficial culture,” they shared.  

Indeed, it is through seemingly small acts, like finally connecting with a mentor or having someone to share experiences that we can learn, grow, and thrive in community-based-care, contributing to a greater culture within community-based care nursing that fosters, well, community. 

You can catch the NurseLearn team at several upcoming nursing and long-term care conferences in Oregon. Up next: the LeadingAge Oregon Annual Conference at Sunriver from May 15 through 17!