A narrative of the attending nurse model implementation

Abstract

In this clinical practice exchange, we discuss how faculty at the New York University College of Nursing (NYUCN) and nurse executives at NYU Langone Medical Center (NYULMC) partnered with staff nurses to implement an attending nurse model and further describe how the model facilitates collaboration as well as clinical knowledge development in practicing nurses. The attending nurse model hastens the experiential learning essential for practice development by having faculty and nurse executives provide situated learning, teaching and coaching to advanced beginner and competent practicing nurses. The model supports the fact that learning in the patient care setting is inextricably linked to the delivery of patient care and shows how faculty can contribute to effective outcomes for patients. By modeling professional comportment, helping nurses to put language to salient issues, and coaching nurses about how to participate in interdiscip-
linary rounds, attending nurses help young clinical staff become active participants in interprofessional dialogue. Nurse executives recognize this model as an innovative and cost efficient way to help clinical staff gain essential knowledge and skill of the practice. For faculty, teaching is enhanced by engagement in actual patient situations which are richer and more complex than theoretical models and serve as a reminder of the centrality of the nurse-patient relationship in both the work of the discipline and the organization.