Nyack Hospital’ Center for Education and Professional Development (CEPD) is committed to providing both theoretically grounded and clinically focused nursing education programs. These programs are intended to facilitate nursing staff members’ personal and professional growth and enable them to deliver safe, competent, compassionate excellent patient care.
Learning is a process that continues throughout an individual’s life. It occurs by means of the ongoing interactions between individuals and their environment. Teaching is directed towards making this learning easy. Thus, we believe that teaching/learning is an interactive partnership, which leads to expansion of knowledge, insights, and meaning concerning human development, growth, and need satisfaction. When learning takes place, there is a change in the individual’s cognitive, affective and psychomotor behaviors in the direction of growth and improved performance.
The CEPD is responsible for the education of Nursing Department staff members (i.e. Registered Nurses, Patient Care Associates, and Administrative Assistants) and focuses on the following key elements of the educational continuum
Transition into Practice: The Nurse Transition Project (NTP) is a program that has been developed to facilitate the recruitment of new graduates’ orientation and on boarding of newly hired Registered Nurses. The program provides for didactic and clinical orientation within a model of social support in order to assist newly hired nurses in their transition to their roles and responsibilities and to the Hospital.
In-Service Education: Ongoing educational programs are offered related to nursing staff members’ roles, policies and procedures, utilization of equipment and resources
Continuing Education: The CEPD provides courses to enhance nursing staff members’ previously acquired knowledge and skill, thereby adding to what staff members already know. Nyack Hospital’s CEPD is an approved provider of continuing nursing education by the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation. As a NYSNA Council of Continuing Education-approved provider of continuing education, The CEPD assures appropriate standards of continuing education as set by the American Nurses’ Association.
Recognizing Nurses’ Excellence:
Nurse recognition is a key component of the culture of excellence at Nyack Hospital. In addition, recognizing excellence in the delivery of nursing care strengthens nurse recruitment and retention. Direct care nurses find many ways to celebrate and honor their colleagues, their achievements and their specialty practices and to acknowledge the contributions that nurses make every day to patient and health care to the community.
Recognition All the Time
All RN staff wear a nametag bearing the symbol “RN”. This initiative both promotes patient safety and satisfaction, and provides visible recognition for each Nyack Hospital RN's important role as caregivers.
The Hospital provides all nurses with the opportunity to participate in a Nursing Clinical Ladder. The Clinical Ladder provides the opportunity for nurses to progress along a continuum of three levels of Nursing practice.
Hospital Recognition
Nursing Department staff members are all eligible to be nominated for the Hospital’s “Shining Star” award. This award is part of the Hospital-wide recognition program.
In addition to the “Shining Star” award, Department staff members may be nominated for the “Wholeness of Life” award, offered annually through the Department of Pastoral Care.
All Hospital staff are recognized for increments in length of service at an annual Employee Service Awards Dinner.
Nurses’ Week Recognition
Nyack Hospital’s Nurses’ Week Planning Committee arranges a wide range of events to celebrate all that Nyack Hospital’s nurses mean to each other, to the Hospital’s mission, and to our community.
In addition to the centralized events sponsored by the Hospital, Nyack Hospital participates in Rockland County Nurse Recognition Day celebrations. Nurse Managers and peers are encouraged to nominate nursing staff members for county-wide nursing excellence awards. In 2009, three nurses from the Hospital received this acknowledgement.
