UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A Penn State conference aimed at providing health care providers and educators with best practices and ways to revitalize nursing and teaching skills will be held virtually on April 1 and 2.
The 30th annual Strategies: Educational Excellence for Health Care Providers and Educators conference will provide health care providers and educators from across Pennsylvania and beyond the opportunity to network with colleagues and share best practices to help cultivate an environment of safety and engagement for themselves and their students.
Maria Border, conference chair and instructor in workforce education for Penn State’s Professional Personnel Development Center, said the coronavirus pandemic has shifted this year’s focus to providing medical professionals with better tools for addressing social and emotional needs.
“They need that support, and how can we as nurses help with social isolation and other social and emotional issues?” she said. “We really wanted to highlight those topics and provide some recommendations for how nurses and educators can help manage those complex issues.”
The conference is primarily geared toward nurse-aid instructors in long-term care facilities, nurse-aid instructors from career and technology centers, and licensed practical nurse (LPN) instructors from community settings. Nurses who attend the conference can also receive continuing education credits.
Conference participants can connect with a network of health care workforce educators, receive updates from NATCEP and Pearson VUE for nurse aide instructors, visit virtual exhibits to enhance their knowledge about products and services available to increase their teaching potential, and hear from experts in the field on relevant issues, research and strategies.
Border said many of the clinical teaching skills and strategies that will be provided can be applied right away.
“That’s our main objective — to provide them with skills they can use the next day,” she said. “We’re hoping the stress and coping techniques can be used right away in their practices and classrooms, and the knowledge they gain about resident isolation and their own biases are extremely important.”
The conference is organized and facilitated by the Workforce Education and Development Department within the College of Education. Penn State Conferences and Institutes – a Penn State Outreach service – helps manage the conference.
Visit the conference website for more information.