4.2. Changes in nursing practice
The learning organization brought important changes to nursing
practice. Specifically, it brought a new culture to the nurses based
on continuous learning at work. According to six participants, the
mentoring program for nurses of zero to five years of experience
was a good incentive to new nurses to begin and continue working
in this CSSS and a great way to promote continuous learning. Firstly,
the program integrated new nurses to their environment through
training on the basic procedures in place in the CSSS given by a
nurse-educator. Secondly, novice nurses were paired with experience
colleagues in their specific field of practice in order to support knowledge transfer and their work. Thirdly, the nurse-educator
also conducted routine assessments of the novice nurse practice
to ensure the progression of her integration and knowledge acquisition.
New nurses as well as older nurses also benefited from the
learning strategies created through the learning organization, particularly
in the case of videos. The video format used for many
projects of the learning organization was considered worthwhile
by four participants since it allowed nurses to show the experiential
knowledge in their daily practice and to describe it visually and
audibly, something that could hardly be done before these video
projects were carried out. The four DVD videos were distributed in
the form of binder so that every installation and unit could have
access to these videos. Also, some novice nurses received DVD
copies if it was related to their speciality.
Six participants claimed that these strategies made it possible
to learn anytime and anywhere since the videos were accessible
to them at any time of the day or night on a variety of topics.
Seven participants thought that the information acquisition was
fast and believed that having the information quickly accessible
decreased the time spent for searching it. Additionally, five participants
noted that the information was customizable and eight
participants pointed out that these videos represented a great information
reminder for nurses. See Table 2 for a summary of the
changes brought to nursing practice by the videos prepared within
the learning organization.