Nurses at Boone Memorial Hospital completed another successful Nurse Competency Day held last month. Nurse Competency Day is an annual event required of all hospitals and mandated by the Joint Commission. The Joint Commission is an independent, not-for-profit organization that accredits and certifies more than 15,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. Joint Commission accreditation and certification is recognized nationwide as a symbol of quality that reflects an organization's commitment to meeting certain performance standards.

"Competency is a demonstration of knowledge and skills. The purpose of Nurse Competency Day is to document/observe clinical competence of RNs and LPNs in certain areas of their practice. Written tests on Conscious Sedation, Drug Calculations and Blood Transfusions were administered," said Beth Blosser, RN, BSN, CEN (Trauma Coordinator and Clinical Nurse Educator at BMH).

Nurses rotated through six different stations:

1) IV Therapy:                         
Coordinated by Terri Dolin, RN
 
2) Central Line Care:               
Coordinated by Kathy Hill, NP and Denise Pritchard, RN
 
3) Proper Disposal of Infectious Waste:
Coordinated by Teresa Meade, RN
 
4) CORE/Organ Donation:
Coordinated by Mary Mitchell, RN and two CORE Representatives
 
5) MPOA/Living Wills:
Coordinated by Brian Mosley, MA, LSW, LPC
 
6) Chest Tube Insertion/Pleurevac Set-up and In-service on the NEW
Uni-Vent Ventilator:
Coordinated by Beth Blosser, RN
 
"Nurse Competency Day is a wonderful opportunity for all nurses from various shifts to come together to fellowship and learn from each other. I couldn't have been more pleased with the turn-out and especially the test scores," Blosser said.

The event was educational and informative, yet fun and enjoyable. Nurses enjoyed hands-on activities and a Mexican Fiesta theme and décor. "This kind of educational endeavor involves lots of hard work and it wouldn't have been successful without the help of so many BMH employees, including those listed above who helped at the various stations," Blosser said.

"It was a wonderful day and I can't wait until next year," Blosser concluded.