Table 6.

Examples of Participant Goals and Outcomes at 12 month Follow-Up

Category	Goal	Outcome
Training colleagues	Compile most applicable PowerPoint slides into a presentation. Teach nurses this information during staff meeting. Monitor HCHAP scores.	We compiled a presentation covering a very shortened version of what we learned during the two-day conference. We also emailed our PowerPoint to each nurse/nursing aid in our unit in case someone missed staff meeting, or if they wanted to reference back to what we taught. We saw some improvement in HCHAP scores, with “Nurses listen carefully to you” going from 86%–90%. Overall nurse communication score at 92% at 12 months.
Institution-wide training (system change)	Expand individualization of plan of care, using the question "what do I need to know about you as a person to give you the best care possible?" to be measured by review of plan of care within computerized charting system.	Education provided to inpatient nursing staff of unit regarding the above question for individualization of plan of care. All nursing staff uses this question on admission in adult patient profile in EMR to be sure we are addressing the patient’s specific preferences. Weekly chart audits show increase from approximately 30% to 90% of patient’s care plan individualized to reflect patient centered goals.
Institution-wide training (communication skills building)	To incorporate an education session on communication for oncology nurses in the quarterly Oncology Orientation for new hire nurses (inpatient and outpatient) to measure satisfaction of the educational session	Three modules (Mindful Communication, Openings and Orientation & Options) scheduled in all quarterly Oncology Orientation programs for inpatient and outpatient nurses at uptown sites. 69 nurses participated in these programs. Consistent positive program evaluations from participants.
Needs Assessment	Administer the communication assessment tool to patients/families on one floor to capture baseline data on patient/family perceived communication patterns	Assessment tool crafted from “The Effective Listening and Interactive Communication Scale (ELICS), A Self-Assessment Scale of Listening and Communication Skills”. An institute wide palliative care needs survey also went out to NP staff who reported they lacked comfort and confidence in basic communication skills about difficult conversations.
Partnering with Palliative Care	Assess staff understanding and perception of palliative care and enhance knowledge base using COMFORT tools	We asked staff to write down what palliative care means to them on an index card and turn it in. This was to get a baseline for teaching. We held an ELNEC in-service introducing COMFORT communication tools to the GYN/ONC, ICU and Assessment Center staff, as well as our NICU PC team. We performed an in- service at our annual Nursing Skills Day regarding COMFORT communication. Based on the information obtained on the index cards at the 6 month assessment, we have been able to eliminate communication barriers. Palliation is a word that has become normal on our unit. We will continue to offer theses inservices and plan to increase the use of the COMFORT communication into the inservices. We plan to do “mini” inservices at staff meetings and skills days to engage staff in the use of COMFORT communication.
Self-Care	Develop educational sessions to "train the trainer" and establish staff champions to facilitate education and disseminate changes to our inpatient oncology staff	We developed a workgroup that includes 8 unit nurses. Out of these 8 there are 2 leaders. They meet monthly on various days so that everyone is able to attend. The peer support workgroup has been success. The most recent peer support group was hosted at one of the facilitators homes where they discussed different stressors faced on the unit and how to cope with those stressors.