Orienting nurses to a vascular nursing specialty

The complexity of medical and nursing care for our patients has become more specialized, requiring nurses to deliver care with greater understanding of specialty-specific disease processes. Although this paradigm shift has occurred, accredited nursing programs continue to prepare our nursing workforce as generalists. Therefore the responsbility falls onto the shoulders of the employer to prepare the nurse to care for specialty-specific population soon after accepting a position on a specialty-specific unit.

This manuscript will discuss a process-curriculum design through evaluation-used by an educator in a Magnet hospital to provide education and support to newly hired nurses for a vascular medical-surgical unit. Benner’s Novice to Expert concept provided the stimulus to recognize the need for in-depth specialty knowledge and skill development for medical-surgical nurses to provide optimum patient care.