In 2017, expansion across a large Midwestern health system prompted a review of Nursing Professional Development Practitioner (NPDP) roles. A system-wide analysis revealed inconsistent role expectations, responsibilities, and alignment with professional standards. The organization restructured its NPDP positions using the 2016 NPD Practice Model and the Scope and Standards of NPD Practice. Following implementation, NPDP certification rates increased, orientation length decreased, and onboarding costs declined. This project demonstrates how aligning roles with frameworks standardizes practice.
ANCC-accredited nursing continuing professional development providers must evaluate activities and aggregate outcomes to demonstrate mission alignment, learner impact, and program effectiveness. Open-ended evaluations offer valuable insights but are often underused because manual analysis is time-consuming and inconsistent. This practice innovation uses generative artificial intelligence as a decision-support tool to improve efficiency and consistency in qualitative evaluation, reducing administrative burden, strengthening the use of learner feedback, and supporting more data-informed activity and provider-level planning.
This study assessed the face validity, content validity, and internal consistency and reliability of the Simulated Megacode Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) Resuscitation Tool (SMARTool) based on the American Heart Association’s current ACLS guidelines. The SMARTool was assessed by ACLS instructors observing and scoring team performance in simulated mock cardiopulmonary event (MCE) video-vignettes that represented six common ACLS scenarios. The SMARTool can be used to develop future MCE scenarios and score team performance.
Artificial intelligence is reshaping how nursing professional development practitioners design education, communicate change, and manage complex workflows. This article highlights practical AI applications that can reduce rework, strengthen consistency, and expand educator capacity while preserving ethical safeguards, human oversight, and professional accountability. Used intentionally, AI offers a timely opportunity to improve efficiency without compromising clinical judgment, learner needs, or the standards that guide Nursing Professional Development practice.
As digital information and artificial intelligence change how nurses find clinical answers, critically evaluating online sources is vital. An evidence-based practice project at a Midwest pediatric health system implemented Critical Online Reasoning (COR), a structured three-step fact-checking process among new nurses ( n =39) after witnessing nurses using the internet for clinical answers. Preintervention and postintervention assessments demonstrated improved source verification, authorship checking, and cross-referencing. Findings support integrating COR into professional development to strengthen evidence-based clinical decision-making.
The RN (Registered Nurse) Experience Platform is an enterprise digital infrastructure developed to standardize peer feedback, self-assessment, and evaluation workflows in nursing professional development (NPD). The platform integrates structured data collection, longitudinal analytics, and ethically governed artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted narrative synthesis to support reflective practice and leadership decision-making in clinical environments. This approach illustrates how NPD practitioners can leverage AI to enhance analytic efficiency while preserving professional judgment and ethical standards.
Nursing professional development (NPD) work is strategically important yet frequently difficult to measure. This article describes a practical approach to defining productivity metrics and using artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze NPD workload. AI-assisted analysis identified workload patterns, seasonal trends, and opportunities for data-informed resource planning while minimizing administrative burden. Findings demonstrate a scalable method for improving visibility of NPD contributions, optimizing resource allocation, and supporting strategic decision-making aligned with organizational priorities.
Transition to practice in professional nursing has been widely studied. However, limited data exist to evaluate the transition of the licensed practical nurse (LPN) to registered nurse (RN). This qualitative research explored the various stages of transition and the development of a framework to support the professional, clinical, and educational needs of the LPN to RN transition to nursing practice.
As staffing challenges continue, orientation of novice nurses into the intensive care unit (ICU) environment has become a necessity. These new graduates often present with additional learning needs. Our medical ICU (MICU) sought an innovative way to support the addition of novice nurses by redesigning the orientation process. Utilizing Benner’s novice-to-expert model as a guide, we designed a skill-based orientation that aimed to boost nurse confidence levels and increase successful orientation rates.
Nursing professional development (NPD) practitioners face increasing challenges synthesizing evidence for accredited continuing education amid expanding literature and regulatory requirements. This manuscript presents a replicable AI-assisted workflow aligned with the NPD Practice Model, NPD Scope and Standards of Practice, and ANCC accreditation criteria. Using a California implicit bias continuing education case study, it demonstrates how AI can enhance evidence synthesis and environmental scanning while maintaining NPD practitioners as the essential “human in the loop.”
A quality improvement initiative standardized nursing clinical orientation (NCO) across a multicampus health system using the Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate (ADDIE) instructional design model and the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles. Campus-specific programs were merged into a unified model that improved efficiency, engagement, and collaboration between nursing education and interdepartmental partners. The redesign reallocated 8.0 full-time equivalents (FTEs) to clinical education and enhanced learner satisfaction. New-hire engagement rose by 17% within one quarter, confirming that standardized, evidence-based onboarding promotes consistent nursing excellence.
Nursing professional development (NPD) practitioners design and evaluate continuing education to improve practice, yet the supporting infrastructure is often manual and burdensome and vulnerable to record-keeping errors. This quality improvement initiative redesigned nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) approval workflows using standardized intake, centralized data management, and automation for administrative tasks while preserving NPD practitioner judgment. The redesigned workflow was associated with an estimated annual reduction of 245 NPD practitioner hours, supporting more sustainable use of professional expertise.
The ICU’s widening experience-complexity gap leaves Newly Licensed Registered Nurses (NLRNs) with less mentorship and lower self-efficacy. This study evaluated an immersive virtual reality (IVR) training program to boost NLRN confidence in high-acuity bedside procedures. Using a quasi-experimental design, results showed significant improvements ( p < .05) across all procedures, with participants highlighting realism, engagement, and interdisciplinary learning. Findings support IVR as an innovative, effective teaching tool to improve NLRN self-efficacy during their transition to practice.
Evidence-based practice projects are common in nurse residency programs, yet they can often lack sustained impact on patient outcomes. This article describes a model that elevates nurse resident-led projects by linking them to measurable patient outcomes and the organization’s professional advancement program. By aligning evidence, outcomes, and career progression, nursing professional development practitioners transform nurse residency projects into drivers of practice change, leadership development, and long-term professional growth.
The traditional preceptor model was redesigned to support the well-being of preceptors while ensuring a meaningful orientation for Newly Licensed Nurses (NLNs). The rapid growth in NLN hiring created an unsustainable precepting environment necessitating a change. The Core Preceptor Model (CPM) was evaluated through surveys with NLNs and preceptors, orientation length, and precepting hours saved. The CPM provided a model to address our hiring growth in acute care while maintaining a high-quality orientation experience.
