Nursing Orientation for Clinical Excellence (NOCE)

Newly hired experienced RNs and LVNs in the hospital and clinic participate in our Nursing Orientation for Clinical Excellence (NOCE) program.

The goal of this program is to familiarize newly hired nurses with nursing practice standards and policies at University Health. Nurses are introduced to Epic, University Health's electronic health record computer system, and our competency-based orientation plan. Nurses meet resource people in the classroom and simulation lab setting.

Clinical Simulation

NOCE is offered on a monthly basis. It provides a combination of classroom sessions, electronic resources and simulated lab experiences in our Clinical Simulation Lab where the experienced nurse is introduced to commonly-used equipment and procedures and current quality initiatives.

Upon completion of NOCE, the nurse will go on to a unit-specific orientation designed by a clinical nurse educator that consists of guided self-study and/or classroom instruction that is individualized to the experienced nurse's learning needs. Newly hired nurses are assigned a staff nurse preceptor who will assist them to demonstrate/perform the required competencies in their area of practice.

Learning Through Simulation

Simulation-based nursing education/training provides a controlled atmosphere that replicates a real-life patient care setting. In a simulated situation, nurses master skills without putting patients at risk. Emerging simulation technologies affords training in a risk-free, encouraging environment where the multifaceted degrees of idyllic patient care can be identified, recreated, practiced and tested among learners to ensure the highest levels of competency.

Advantages of simulated learning

• Consistent, reproducible scenarios for standardized training
• Develops leadership and resourcefulness
• Experience with uncommon scenarios
• Error-forgiving clinical experience that enhances patient safety
• Limitless scenarios for clinical skills proficiency
• Practice with crisis resource management procedures
• Post-simulation debriefing to enhance learning and rationalization of actions
• Real adult experiential learning
• Scenarios tailored to each learner's educational level
• Realistic problem-based instruction
• Supervised instruction in life-threatening events management
• Translation of knowledge into action without endangering patients

Learning Key Competencies

Simulation training offers unique and powerful learning opportunities in key competencies; including communication, teamwork, emergent conditions and leadership, as well as in tasks that requires well-practiced manual skills.

Simulation based training and competencies are conducted in UH on the following clinical settings:

• Rapid Response Team Annual Competency
• Moderate Sedation Annual Competency
• Advance Cardiac Life Support
• Mock Code Blues
• Annual Clinical Nursing Core Competencies
• Nursing Orientation

Continuing Education

Continuing education consists of planned activities that build upon the educational and experiential bases of nursing practice, education, administration and research. Here, we never stop learning. University Health has an infrastructure in place to provide nurses with an opportunity for lifelong professional growth. We encourage our staff to contribute to the body of knowledge in the field of health care and to make their mark. Professional development courses are taught by nurse educators, direct care nurses, or invited guest speakers, locally and nationally.

Professional development courses

Programs are structured to meet the unique educational requirements that support the RNs need to deliver complex nursing care at our hospitals. Certification review courses ,critical care classes, ethics, hemodynamic monitoring, ECMO, and sepsis are only a few of the classes that we offer. Preceptor and advanced preceptor courses are offered to assure that those nurses chosen to educate our newly hired staff are prepared.

Magnet Accredited

We are pleased and proud to announce that University Health has been accredited by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation (ANCC) to be a provider of continuing nursing education since 1985.