Growing Nurse Leaders

In July 2021, the ENE moved from Executive Park, an office complex near the Emory campus, into newly renovated space at the learning center. The space and amenities there have further enhanced the ENE’s ability to provide continuing education for professional nurses. 

Established in 2019, the ENE hosts the platform for accredited content taught by Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing faculty and Emory Healthcare nurses. Over the past three years, more than 9,300 learners from all 50 states and more than 30 nations have enrolled in the 340 courses offered online or in a hybrid setting by the ENE.

“Our mission has always been to provide quality education opportunities for nurses,” says Laika Steiger, MBA, FACHE, senior assistant dean of transformative clinical practice operations at the School of Nursing. “They come to the ENE for a variety of reasons: for continuing nursing education credit to renew their license, to stay on top of what’s new, but most importantly to learn something that enables them to be better at what they do, in their current job or a new one.” 

The course catalog has evolved to reflect current best practices and the changing needs of nurses. Naturally, numerous courses have focused on COVID- 19-related subjects, especially early in the pandemic. A new one-credit course, inspired by the pandemic and the social justice reckoning that followed George Floyd’s death in May 2020, examines the historical foundations of racial disparities in U.S. health care. 

The most significant shift in course offerings has been from individual classes to in-depth certification programs. “We want you to get more than just a continuing education credit,” Steiger says. “We want you to have an Emory Nursing certificate, which says you invested a significant amount of time, we’ve assessed your knowledge, and you truly can apply what you’ve learned.” 

Accredited in 1976, Emory’s acclaimed Wound, Ostomy, and Continence (WOC) certification program is the most successful continuing education program offered by the ENE. It is one of seven such accredited programs in the United States. Emory faculty — particularly Dorothy Doughty, MN, RN, CWOCN, FAAN — pioneered the field. The program has a stellar word-of-mouth reputation among nurses, nationally and around the world. 

Participants first complete their classroom courses online, asynchronously, at their own pace. “I was very impressed with how rigorous and in-depth the program was,” says Marty Costa, DNP, MSN, RN, WON, a recent WOC program graduate from Roseville, California, who teaches full time at Chamberlain University. “As an instructor, I really appreciated how well Dorothy laid out the information and made the concepts easy to understand.” Both the lessons and an accompanying podcast — which enables students to reinforce lessons while on the go — were recorded in the ENE’s recording studio.  

Participants then complete their program at the ENE with an onsite Bridge Week, which allows them to network with their fellow WOC students, meet instructors, clarify concepts, and perform hands-on skills and competencies. 

The ENE’s design “recognizes that our students are professionals who have lives outside of our building,” says Steiger. Outside of the highly interactive classroom — well equipped for Zoom presentations with six monitors and multiple microphones for audience participation — are invaluable “touchstone spaces.” Students and presenters retreat to these nooks to discreetly take calls, check email, and participate in their own Zoom staff meetings. There’s even a nursing room for new mothers, a feature utilized and highly praised by recent participants. 

The ENE’s location — on the fourth floor of the Emory Nursing Learning Center in downtown Decatur — has been a major selling point of the ENE from the start. Out-of-town students can take MARTA rail from the Atlanta airport to the Decatur station, just two blocks from the ENE and its partner hotel, the Courtyard by Marriott. The hotel provides breakfast, a study room, and a shuttle. Students appreciate having the hotel and multiple restaurants close to the ENE. 

“The whole city of Decatur has been so accommodating,” Steiger says. “They’re always asking, ‘What do you need? What can we do for you?’ Our students absolutely love it, and it has made a world of difference for the ENE to be in this space.” 

FORGING NEW PARTNERSHIPS 

As word of the ENE has spread, more School of Nursing faculty and Emory Healthcare nurses have partnered with the ENE on new grant-driven training programs and taken advantage of its expertly designed spaces. 

For example, the ENE teamed with School of Nursing associate professor Trisha Sheridan, DNP, WHNP-BC, SANE-A, SANE-P, FAANP, on an initiative to increase the number of certified sexual assault nurse examiners in Georgia. The training includes online courses, an in-person clinical skills experience at the ENE, continuing education, and certification prep courses so that nurses can earn and maintain their certification. The grant covers all costs for participating nurses. “We can make a big impact on the community by providing this course and not allowing finances to be a barrier to entry,” Steiger says. 

Assistant professor Nicholas Giordano, PhD, RN, and his interdisciplinary team, developed a new initiative on nurse resiliency and well-being. The ENE created a central platform for all curricula as well as individual interactive online courses, recorded by subject-matter experts in the ENE’s recording studio. A Health Resources Services Administration grant will ensure the material is provided for free to nurses across Georgia so they can become wellness champions in their respective communities. 

An increasing number of internal Emory Healthcare programs are making full use of the ENE as well. “I am so incredibly thrilled to have this space for our nurse leadership development and well-being programs,” says Trina Geyer, PhD, RN, NPD-BC, NEA-BC, director of nursing leadership and development. Three leadership cohorts — ranging from informal front-line leaders to formal unit-level leaders to aspiring associate vice presidents, vice presidents, and chief nurses — meet at the ENE throughout the year. Emory’s Building Resilience and Compassion Enculturation (emBRACE) Peer Support Program will also use this space to develop Emory’s network of employees dedicated to well-being and joy through interprofessional education and collaborative practices. “Our nurses have been through so much over the past three years (during the COVID-19 pandemic),” Geyer says. “I’m grateful to have an opportunity to give something back to them in such a beautiful space.” 

Cynthia Harris, MHA, BSN, RN, CPC, director of clinical placement for the School of Nursing, values having her office in the ENE. “It’s wonderful to have a space that students can feel is their own and where we can meet with them face to face,” she says. “It allows us to create a better relationship with them and make a positive impression, so they’ll want to come back at some point and serve as a preceptor.” 

The opening of the ENE has been a lifesaver for Carrie McDermott, PhD, APRN, corporate director of nursing professional practice for Emory Healthcare. McDermott directs the New Graduate Residency Program, a yearlong series of monthly four-hour seminars for nurses in their first year on the job. In 2021, 512 residents participated in the program, split into 17 cohorts. The program had outgrown its previous spaces; the ENE was the perfect venue for hosting each seminar’s presentations from subject-matter experts and small-group reflective practice exercises. 

The ENE has certainly made a positive impression on residency participants. “It’s really important for these nurses who are entering their career at Emory Healthcare to be able to take classes in such an impressive, state-of-the-art facility,” McDermott says. “They can see how Emory Healthcare is showing so much pride in nursing and making such a big investment in them.”