P2A298: Designing and Implementing a Novel Post-onboarding Curriculum for Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Advanced Practice Providers Directed Towards Continuing Education and Professional Development

Background: Advanced practice providers (APPs), comprised of both nurse practitioners and physician assistants, are essential in providing comprehensive care in Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Units (PCICUs). APPs deliver continuity of care, provide clinical expertise, and provide education and mentorship to nurses and trainees. While there has been a nation-wide effort to implement APP onboarding curriculums which provide foundations in cardiac physiology and critical care management, there are gaps in APP continuing education and professional development opportunities after completion of the orientation process. A novel PCICU APP Education 201 Curriculum was developed to address this need with focused peer-to-peer APP education on clinically significant topics and facilitated APP professional development mentorship.

Methods: The PCICU APP Education Committee developed a 12-month peer-led curriculum with monthly presentations on cardiac critical care topics with related objectives. Curriculum objectives focused on expansion of complex physiology and evidence-based management strategies of key clinical topics for practicing APPs. Topics included single ventricle population, heart transplantation, coagulopathies, and electrophysiology. The curriculum design aimed to improve APP knowledge and provide APP professional development opportunities as faculty educators. Presentation selection was facilitated by each APP within the group ranking their preferred teaching topic and selected a teaching modality. Each APP was paired with two faculty mentors (attending and APP) for the development of the presentation. To improve accessibility and participation, presentations were available virtually and in-person. APP participants completed anonymous evaluations on the quality of the educational content and the effectiveness of the educator after each presentation. At the completion of the curriculum, APP participants completed post surveys for curriculum evaluation.

Results: The 12-month curriculum was implemented from January 2022 to December 2022. Twelve of fourteen APPs participated as faculty educators for the peer-led presentations. 95% of the APP participants reported that the APP faculty educator presentations promoted learning and expanded knowledge of new concepts. Of the twelve APP faculty educators who participated, ten responded to the post-curriculum survey. 100% “strongly agreed” that the PCICU Education 201 Curriculum increased their foundation of cardiac critical care knowledge and advanced their teaching skills.

Conclusion: Innovative APP educational and faculty development initiatives are essential in the fast-paced, interprofessional clinical practice environment of the PCICU. The PCICU Education 201 Curriculum provided an innovative curriculum which emphasized expanded knowledge of complex physiology and management for practicing APPs. Additionally, the curriculum facilitated APP professional development opportunities as faculty educators with supportive faculty mentorship. The implementation of this curriculum can be used for enhancement of PCICU APP knowledge and professional development which are essential to improving comprehensive patient care and APP career satisfaction.