The Sharpen Your Skills experience is back to offer more hands-on learning activities, where all attendees — from the novice to the veteran — can learn new clinical skills and practice lifesaving interventions.
Attendees will get the chance to learn new clinical skills and brush up on their techniques at the Sharpen Your Skills stations in the Experience Hall.
Sharpen Your Skills, which takes place in the Experience Hall from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 5 and from 9 a.m. to noon Sept. 6, is for every emergency nurse, according to Teri Campbell, MSN, RN, CEN, CFRN, FAEN, PHRN, who coordinated the interactive activities. They provide valuable opportunities to learn new skills or brush up on techniques ED nurses don’t use often.
“Our goal is that the learner goes to all the skills stations because we want to increase their confidence,” she said. “My faculty is amazing. My learning mantra is ‘layered learning.’ If we have a novice learner, we give them a good foundation. If they’re more experienced, we can flex with that. We’ll meet you where you are on your learning journey.”
Attendees can drop by multiple staffed stations to practice intubation, needle decompression, chest tubes and more. There will be some repeats from last year, and Campbell promises some exciting additions this year. She wants nurses to roll up their sleeves, get their hands dirty, and do “cool and fun things,” where they will gain confidence and have in-the-moment support.
Teri Campbell, MSN, RN, CEN, CFRN, FAEN, PHRN
“It’s kind of like speed dating,” Campbell said of the setup: Stop by one station, get a bit familiar, and move to the next.
Even if nurses don’t use some of the skills in their present jobs, the knowledge they gain will serve them well when they assist with procedures and advocate for their patients, according to Campbell.
Sharpen Your Skills grew from a presentation Campbell offered several years ago titled “Move Over, Docs,” which focused on procedures that nurses don’t typically perform, but rather ones they assist with. “I brought some animal parts with me, so people could play,” she said. “It was wildly successful.”
Sharpen Your Skills has grown and improved each year, Campbell said. She added it’s unique that ENA provides this experience on a large scale. Last year, one-third of the nurses who attended Emergency Nursing 2023 stopped by the stations. Campbell hopes to see at least half the attendees come through this year, including repeats, and she will be ready for them.
“Come back. There are new skills, new faculty, new opportunities to layer on the skills they learned last year,” Campbell said, “and there are brand-new invasive skills.”