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JNPD Guest Editorial Featuring Dr. Heidi Keeler
July 22, 2024 — Melanie Rainford, MSN, RN, NPD-BC
Dr. Heidi Keeler of University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) recounted their colleague lamenting how experienced nurses become burnt out and leave their positions, requiring much less experienced nurses to serve as preceptors. The colleague felt they could not “keep enough nurses to both care for patients and train and onboard nurses to bring [them] to full staffing capacity. [They were] in a perpetual catch twenty-two” (Keeler, 2024). Dr. Keeler surmises others may resonate with these sentiments, especially with nursing turnover data corroborating these lived experiences.
Consequently, after the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) awarded the UNMC a federal grant to “find effective and innovative ways to address the specific and unique regional issues related to clinical and nursing education infrastructure,” Dr. Keeler created a Midwest Clinical Instruction Regional Network to augment existing preceptor and clinical instruction programs using evidenced-based frameworks and strategies. Read more about Dr. Keeler’s efforts and broader public policy undertakings emerging in nursing workforce development in the Journal for Nurses in Professional Development’s July/August 2024 Guest Editorial.
Are you interested in becoming a peer reviewer for the Journal for Nurses in Professional Development? If so, review and complete the JNPD Peer Reviewer: Role/Responsibilities & Application. Email this application (and a current CV) to Editor-in-Chief Dr. Kathleen Burke.
Did you know? Since Journal for Nurses in Professional Development (JNPD) is the official publication of the Association for Nursing Professional Development (ANPD), online access is an ANPD member benefit! Since 1985, JNPD has been the specialized source of information for NPD practitioners in all health care settings. The journal provides NPD practitioners with the most current information on: planning, implementing, and evaluating educational activities; teaching and learning methods; research in the specialty; evidence-based research and best practices; and technological or other innovations.
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Melanie Rainford, MSN, RN, NPD-BC
Editorial Board Member, Social Media, JNPD
Melanie Rainford is a board-certified nurse leader, with over 16 years of clinical nursing and professional development experience, specializing in the design, implementation, and evaluation of professional development initiatives, projects, and programs.
In 2017, Melanie received the ANPD Change Agent Award for her strength in project management and improvement processes, and in 2018 she graduated from the ANPD Leadership Academy. Melanie is a contributing author for the NPD Scope & Standards of Practice, 4th Ed. and chapter editor Change Agent for the Core Curriculum for Nursing Professional Development, 6th Ed. She currently serves on the editorial board for the JNPD, the official publication of the ANPD.
In her current role as an education program specialist at the American Nurses Association Enterprise, Melanie manages and implements educational content for conferences and symposiums through project management, influence, data analysis, and internal consultation; additionally, in this role, Melanie creates educational content using instructional design, educational technology (edtech), design learning, and innovation.