September 2016 Department Discovery: Professional Development

The September 2016 Department Discovery shines a light on the Professional Development Department.

Campbell County Health’s Professional Development Department is responsible for all education throughout the organization. They provide annual compliance education, continuing education and assistance with formal education and certificates for doctors, medical staff, leadership, professional staff and more. The department partners with several community colleges and universities to offer students clinical experience. This department also provides all of the brochures and pamphlets that are given to patients when they leave the hospital, should they need more information about their ailment or proper care while at home.

Professional Development is a somewhat unique department in the organization because it gets a chance to interact with all of the staff employed here, students who visit the facilities, and providers.

“We strive very hard to satisfy the needs of all our customers,” says Veronica Taylor, RN, MS, Director of Infection Prevention, Professional Development, and Disaster Preparedness. “We are working with very diverse departments across the organization to provide education and establish competence. This effort results in higher quality care for our patients and residents.”

The department employs eight fulltime and PRN employees, which includes a PRN librarian and Director, as well as a full-time Gillette College nursing instructor. According to Veronica, the department has the resources to help all staff and department reach their goals—this includes tuition reimbursement and education assistance if it helps CCH to meet its strategic plan. The department also offers a small medical library with resources available and a lot of online sources for staff to use to provide our patients with the best care possible. The department also has an amazing amount of education hours that are provided to all CCH staff.

The department has been hard at work on three large projects this year. “One is the implementation of a hybrid CNA Basic class that will consist of an online component and classroom/lab hours. We are also working on completing the AHA Training Center, which allows CCH to provide Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support and Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) directly for the American Heart Association,” Veronica says. “This is a significant accomplishment and has taken an enormous effort to coordinate and helps to cement CCH as a leader in our region and the state.”

A big round of applause to the Professional Development Department staff! Thank you for all that you do for keeping our community healthy.