The Nursing Directorate

CNAC Projects

CNAC Projects Funded in 2002/03

Nursing Leadership Program
Development of a collaborative nursing leadership succession-planning program to promote and develop front-line nursing leaders to retain more nurses and increase their workplace satisfaction. Phase 1: Strategic plan for the implementation of a provincial education program.

Innovative Scheduling and Flexible Work Environments: Phase 1 Development
Funds were provided to develop a framework for identifying and pursuing innovative scheduling options - For more information, see: Innovative Scheduling Practices: A Resource Guide - (Revised December 2003)  (PDF 520 Kb)

Clinical Resource for Introducing New LPN Competencies
Phase 1: Development of a decision guide for appropriate utilization of LPNs.

Zero Tolerance for Violence
Phase 1 of a project developed by Fraser and Vancouver Island Health Authorities to document best practices to reduce aggression by dementia residents towards care staff.

CNAC Projects Funded in 2003/04
Innovative Scheduling and Flexible Work Environments: Phase 1 Development
Funds were provided to develop a framework for identifying and pursuing innovative scheduling options - For more information, see: Innovative Scheduling Practices: A Resource Guide - (Revised December 2003)  (PDF 520 Kb)

Zero Tolerance for Violence
phase I of a project developed by Fraser Health and Vancouver Island Health Authorities to document best practices to reduce aggression by dementia residents towards care staff.

Clinical Resources for Introducing New LPN Competencies
discussion guide for appropriate utilization of LPNs was piloted and evaluated. Further work is planned for 2004/05.

Strengthen Nursing Leadership
Phase 2 of front line nurse leadership program curriculum development.

Quality Work Environments
The Registered Nurses Association of BC (RNABC) led workshops throughout the province to discuss and develop strategies that can be implemented within current resources. For more information, see the College of Registered Nurses of BC website.

Note: RNABC changed its name in 2005 to the College of Registered Nurses of BC (CRNBC).

Health Human Resource Planning
Phase 1: literature review and development of a project charter for a study to forecast demand and supply in the BC nursing labour market.

CNAC Projects Funded in 2004/05

Clinical Nursing Education: Directions for the Future in Rural and Northern Health Region
A project to explore how nursing education could be designed and delivered in the Northern Health Authority, which includes remote site challenges.

Concurrent Disorder Education and Skills Training for RNs and RPNs
A collaboration between Providence Health Care and the Provincial Health Services Authority to address the knowledge gap of nursing staff at St. Paul's and Riverview Hospitals that care for patients who suffer from chronic mental illness and substance abuse.

An Integrated Approach for Responding to Aggressive and Excessive Behaviours in Complex Care Settings
Phase 2 of a project developed by Fraser Health Authority and partners to create an assessment tool and identify program recommendations based on best practice indicators designed to successfully intervene with the elderly who present with aggressive and excessive behaviours, within complex care settings.

Promoting Continuing Education and Inquiry-Informed Practice through Building Communities of Learning for Nurses
A project developed by Malaspina University-College and Vancouver Island Health Authority to use a community empowerment model to build a learning network for nursing students and nursing staff at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.

Interactive Web-based Learning: What Nurses Need to Know about Violence and Abuse with a Focus on High-risk Pregnant and Parenting Families
A web-based workshop was developed for RNs, LPNs and RPNs that addressed the abuse of high-risk women, with a focus on pregnant and parenting families, and violence in the workplace.

Preparing RNs, RPNs and LPNs for Collaborative Practice: A Review of Current Educational Activities in BC
The BC Nurses' Union led this literature review and survey of current educational activities that support the collaborative practice of nurses.

Enhancing Infection Control Education to Nurses in Rural and Community Practice
A project by the Provincial Health Services Authority, the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority and the Occupational Health and Safety Agency for Health care in BC that incorporated infection control content relevant to community and rural nursing into an existing online learning module, ensuring that occupational health principles were well explained.

CNAC Projects Funded in 2005/06

Pressure Ulcer Prevention E-learning Module Project
An interactive educational module was created from a wound care Power Point presentation, piloted in four settings and evaluated. Out of the forty-three participants, twenty-four (55%) completed the module by March 31, 2006. The overall comments on the evaluations were positive.

Provincial Competency Based Specialty Practice for Mental Health: Web-Based Learning Project: Phase
This was Phase One of a three-part project. The focus was to create and pilot comprehensive, self-directed competency based and Internet-ready teaching/learning modules and resources for Level 1- Basic Pediatric Mental Health Nursing for Registered Nurses/Registered Psychiatric Nurses working with children and adolescents in hospital and community settings.

Responding to Excessive and Aggressive Behaviour in Complex Care Settings – Phase 3
This was Phase 3 of a four-phase project to demonstrate an integrated approach to responding to excessive and aggressive behaviors (REAB) by residents in complex care.
Nursing practice will benefit from:

  • The common language, procedures, forms and approaches that are part of the REAB Resource Kit, all of which will standardize practice in this area across facilities.
  • The collaboration and shared goals with Occupational Health and Safety partners that underpin the REAB Resource Kit.
  • Evidence-based approaches to REAB in complex care facilities.


Pediatric Critical Care Outreach Project
A Pediatric Critical Care Liaison Nurse for British Columbia’s Children’s Hospital was piloted to provide:

  • Regular patient follow up for the first 48 hours of discharge from the Critical Care Program.
  • Education and support of ward staff.
  • Consultation and assisting ward staff in the early recognition of deteriorating pediatric patients and supporting timely referrals and transfers to the Critical Care Unit.

The above goals were met, and the success of the pilot convinced administrators to fund this role on a permanent basis with hours extended beyond that of the pilot project.

Geriatric Emergency Network Initiative (GENI): A Demonstration Project for BC Wide Implementation
GENI is an education and support program designed specifically for nurses to improve care of acutely ill older adults in the Emergency Room (ER). A concurrent need for a Geriatric Emergency Nurse Clinician in ERs was identified and a pilot initiated in Burnaby Hospital. The following results were achieved:

  • 170 nurses and allied health professionals from all BC health authorities attended the two-day GENI workshop.
  • At Burnaby Hospital, where the Geriatric Emergency Nurse Clinician was implemented, the average length of stay for older patients was reduced by 4 days.

Acute Care of at-Risk Newborns: ACoRN
ACoRN is a priority-based, clinically oriented framework that sequentially integrates assessment, monitoring, diagnostic evaluation, intervention, and on-going management of at-risk and unwell newborns. ACoRN is also appropriate for further stabilization of babies who have been resuscitated at birth.

The pilot program was comprised of a textbook, pre- and post-workshop learning assessments, self-tests, a three day workshop, and clinical tools designed for any practitioner who may be called upon to care for at-risk babies and their families - from the smallest outpost nursing station to a tertiary referral centre, regardless of experience or training in neonatal emergencies.

Of 65 hospitals in BC providing perinatal services, 487 participants from 23 hospitals attended one of eleven 3-day workshops offered in 2005/06. The majority of participants agreed that they could apply what they learned from ACoRN in their clinical practice.

Physical Assessments Using a Human Patient Simulator
A Centre of Excellence in Surgical Education and Innovation (CESEI) Human Patient Simulation model used for medical students/residents was adapted for nurses. Six simulations (for M/S nurses, nurse practitioners and midwives) were developed and delivered in rural acute settings using a mobile METI unit. Evaluations from the nurses indicated that most participants felt the experience was a great learning opportunity.