Let’s go Dotty – An Innovative Method for Unit Specific Nurse Education in a Large Level One Trauma Center”

In our Level One trauma center and teaching hospital, it is difficult for nursing staff to leave their units for education sessions. Although mandatory education sessions are attended quarterly, little to no time is dedicated for wound and ostomy education.  New graduate nurses and new hire orientation offered opportunities to inform new employees of wound/ostomy services and education, but these were simply overview sessions.  These time constraints resulted in development of an innovative teaching method consisting of short-burst educations sessions taken directly to the individual nursing units.

Topics were determined by observation of the wound ostomy nurses, suggestions from unit educators and managers, and specific requests from the nursing staff. Called “DOTTY” for Dressing and Ostomy Training, sessions are delivered in quick, 10-15 minute educational “bites” over a two to three week period, when both day and night shifts can attend without work interruption.  Nurses sign an attendance sheet and are given a raffle ticket to win one of four British Nurses watches that are awarded at the end of each DOTTY cycle.  The watch also serves as a reminder of future DOTTY sessions.  Each attendee receives a different colored “dot” for each session which is worn on their name badge; the color of each dot is based on the Taekwondo belt system. The more dots on a nurse’s badge, the more the nurse is perceived by their peers as knowledgeable regarding wound and ostomy care.  In a recent October session, our first “black belt/DOT” sticker was earned by a nurse along with a special button, indicating he now serves as a unit resource to his colleagues.

DOTTY sessions are now ongoing and used to continue providing staff nurses with the tools needed to provide quality patient care and introduce new products and initiatives.