DNP role promises exciting future of improvement at Rogers

07/26/18 12:57:pm

As the system clinical nurse educator, Geralyn Voboril, DNP, ensures that our clinical staff is being trained and following best practices—something she is well qualified for, especially after the addition of her Doctor of Nursing Practice in education and leadership.

Dr. Voboril recently received her DNP, but says there has been some confusion over exactly what this means. A DNP, which is a terminal degree for nurses, has some key differences from other advanced nursing degrees. For instance, a PhD in nursing focuses heavily on research, while a DNP involves doing research while also emphasizing implementing changes based on evidence. Dr. Voboril says that the degree has had a significant effect on how she thinks about and approaches a problem.

One of the big changes that has already taken effect is how nurses are onboarded through the orientation period. Previously, new nurses at Rogers would receive most of their training on the unit. Now nurses are in class with Dr. Voboril and other nurse educators for almost a full week before they arrive on the unit.

“It’s reducing orientation days, and they’re more effective giving nurses more confidence, which we have been tracking by doing self-confidence surveys.”

The addition of the DNP role to Rogers has helped prioritize nursing education and evidence-based practice at Rogers, which Dr. Voboril says increases Rogers’ ability to recruit new nurses.

“They’re trained in school to look for places that talk about evidence-based practice,” she says. “So we can recruit better candidates, train them better, and retain them longer.”

Long-time Rogers nurses will also notice changes resulting from the addition of the DNP role such as a revamped skills fair. Previously, the skills fair was mostly competency based and dealt with things like how to give an injection. This year, the time to get a nurse through the skills fair has dropped from about two hours to just 20 minutes, and instead mimics the question format of the NCLEX.

The work that Dr. Voboril and the nursing education department does is not limited solely to nurses. Soon they will be rolling out new training for PCs and RCs. She also works with regulatory, safety, policy development, and is involved with multiple Rogers Improvement Events.

As someone who has spent a number of years in the classroom, Dr. Voboril wants to encourage others to look into further education beyond their current degree—especially now that the tuition reimbursement process at Rogers is easier.

“Rogers is very pro-education and there are many opportunities for them to help go back to school,” Dr. Voboril says. “Rogers really wants highly educated people.”