Bill Klaproth (Host): This is Today in Nursing Leadership, a podcast from the American Organization for Nursing Leadership.

I'm Bill Klaproth and we want to thank Ascend Learning and Staff Garden for sponsoring this podcast. You can visit them at Ascend Learning, just go to ascendhws.com. And if you want to visit Staff Garden, just go to staffgarden.com and we thank them for sponsoring this podcast episode. With me today is Larissa Africa and Jenna Fisher, as we talk about harnessing the power of data, transforming insights into action for retention. Larissa and Jenna, welcome.

Larissa Africa: Thanks, Bill. How are you?

Host: I'm great. Thank you so much for being here. Jenna, thanks for being here.

Jenna Fisher: Thank you having us.

Host: Absolutely. Looking forward to talking with you both about this. So let's talk about data. I think this is really an interesting topic. Sometimes I think we take data for granted or we don't really know how to use it properly, I think is another problem.

So why is this important for us to get this right of turning data into action? Larissa, let me start with you.

Larissa Africa: Sure. You know, that's a really good observation. When you think about healthcare, we have so much data. We're inundated with data, everything from patient outcomes. You look at financial data, you have HR data.

It's very overwhelming. And when you think about today's environment, your nurse leaders, your managers, your educators, sometimes they just don't have enough time to really dig deep into what the data says. We have a tendency to keep collecting the data. Yes, there's some analysis, but we fall short because then we don't use that data to actually strategize on how to continue to develop the workforce. It's the what do you do with the data after? And I think that's the part that we're trying to do at Ascend is how do we help organizations not only collect the data, analyze the data, but break them down into digestible segments for analysis and then using that to inform whatever retention strategies we need to use to help our workforce and also to inform those strategies of what we need to continue to evaluate.

Host: Yeah, I think that's a really good point. We collect all this data and then like you said, we don't dig deep on it. We don't often know what to do with it. Right, Jenna?

Jenna Fisher: Yeah. And I think with the data, just getting line of sight to the data around the different dashboards and things like that that make it easy to interpret. Like what Larissa said, it's digestible. You can do something with it. It is a way to visually see it where you can really make some decisions around your next steps that are required for your workforce to really engage with the workforce and continue to drive your organization forward.

Host: You want to make sure this data becomes actionable. Correct? Correct. That's part of the process, of this.

Jenna Fisher: I think it's really taking data, turning it into information to gain knowledge to then take action on

Host: Yeah. You said it way better than I said it. Great. I, I like that. That's fantastic. So knowing that we have all this data, and a lot of people don't know what to do with it, a lot of healthcare systems collect it, don't know what to do with it. As you said, they don't do a deep dive, or if they get it, they're not making it digestible or actionable. Now that we know that, how do you go and help healthcare clients, hospitals, how do you help them with this data? What do you do with it? How do you help them digest this?

Jenna Fisher: Yeah, so the first part of that is really to digitize the data so that you go from a paper format into a digitized version that really does allow for that data to be collected, to then drive those dashboards to really support from a strategic perspective, the different areas of the healthcare system where they're looking at for things around professional development.

Things that we know improve retention within the healthcare systems. Things like clinical ladders that we see out in the organizations. We now have a great solution that allows the opportunity for you to see exactly what's happening with your workforce on that ladder, and not only making it easy for the leaders to see what's happening, but also, if I'm the clinician engaged in that ladder, I'm able to look at it and easily understand. I'm not overwhelmed by the steps that I have to take. And the same thing with our competencies. It's easy for me to see that to do the right thing, so to speak. We make it easy to do the right thing when it comes to these different solutions that really do support retention within the workforce. But those ladders can be fairly overwhelming, especially if they're paper based and, and we've all seen it where the committee that's responsible for reviewing those ladders are carrying around three ring binders and they're moving them from facility to facility.

This allows for you to be able to see everything right there on the screen and really be able to process and move through it quicker in a much more objective way.

Host: As you said, it makes it easier to do the right things, in a more digestible way. Instead of the three ring binders as you talked about, it's all laid out there for you and you help them understand what is the right things to look for when you're going through all this data too. It certainly sounds like.

Larissa Africa: Yeah, absolutely. And just to add to what Jenna was saying, when I think back to when we didn't have a digital clinical ladder platform. Yes, there were those three ring binders. You have the data right there, but it also means going through every single page to try and figure out what does it tell me?

Where are my nurses at in terms of their professional development? How do I get to the information quicker and that's really probably what I have seen over the years is that these professional development strategies, these retention strategies are very difficult to sustain over time because there are manual processes.

So you can't get information quickly enough to say, here are our gaps in our processes, here are the gaps in our strategies, and we need to address them. So having the technology, and especially with the rise of new technologies that are coming out, the new AI that's coming out; we really need to take this opportunity to leverage all of those technology to use the data and turn them into what's next. How do we address our issues?

Host: And finding those gaps, as you say, which is so critical.

Larissa Africa: Exactly.

Host: Yeah. So let's talk about these clinical ladders and the success that you've had. Jenna, can you talk about the results so far?

Jenna Fisher: Yeah. What we're seeing with the ladders is that people that are on the ladders, if you are a clinician and you're on the ladder, those systems are seeing about a 52% increase in retention, over people that are not on the ladders.

In addition to that, we're seeing an increase of engagement of 223% year over year in regards to like year one you have 10 people on the ladder. Year two, we're seeing in some cases where there's over a 200% increase in engagement on that ladder. We do know from talking with multiple healthcare systems, that engagement in the ladder is really one of the biggest things to overcome.

And again, when you look at those ladders, they can feel quite overwhelming to the clinician that's trying to engage in that. And now you have a ladder that's right in front of you that's digital, and it makes it easier for that manager, that nursing leader that's on the unit to be able to know exactly who they have in the ladder as opposed to having to again, look at those three ring binders to figure out is Jenna on the ladder, is Larissa on the who's on the ladder?

To really know, to go out and engage with those clinicians that are on the ladder to keep encouraging them, to finish and move forward in their professional growth. And, move, from a RN one to an RN two to an RN three to an RN four.

Host: Jenna, thank you so much for sharing that. That was amazing information. You've really seen some great results, so thank you again for sharing that. Larissa, let me ask you this. Can you tell us about how you are using technology to manage competency?

Larissa Africa: Yeah, absolutely. You know, the same way that Jenna mentioned earlier, how most organizations are managing their clinical ladder program using three ring binders. Imagine the same thing for skills checklists and competency management.

You probably are still seeing nurse educators carrying their three ring binders around, especially when the regulatory bodies would come to the organization, would ask for this data for their specific nurses. What we have done at Staff Garden and Ascend Learning is built competencies directly into the platform so that it moves away all of the manual processes for assessing and validating, documenting the competencies. Provides a lot of transparency. Imagine in a world where your preceptors can go directly into the platform. They can see who their preceptees are. They can look at the competencies, assess, document there directly, and then your nurse leaders, they also know how everyone's doing.

Right. So most nurse leaders want to know who's performing, who is ready to be off orientation, who do I need to provide more assistance with? Leveraging technology will give them back the time that they really, we all need to do other important things.

Host: And that information is right there for them.

Larissa Africa: Absolutely. And the other beauty of having the technology to manage the competencies, now you can really measure how quickly your nurses are performing or attaining those competencies. And one of the things that we've found with having a standardized process for competency, assessment and development, we've been able to reduce the time it takes for somebody to reach that competent performance and reducing the amount of time they had to spend in the classroom and the preceptors. And we've seen an average savings of about $6,000 for organizations. So that's money that can go somewhere else.

Host: Yeah. Another amazing result. Yeah. So, sounds like, again, it's very beneficial and I appreciate you being here talking about all of this. I'd love to get your takeaways from each of you, key takeaways, what you've learned, why, what is so exciting for you about this. Larissa, let me start with you.

Larissa Africa: Sure. So, you know, I've, as I've mentioned earlier, it's been so exciting to see this rise in use of innovative technologies when it comes to patient care. So I think for me I want to see us as nurse leaders use that same passion for innovation and use of technology when it comes to workforce development. Let's leverage these tools such as the Staff Garden's digital clinical ladder platform, the competency management, to really meaningfully recognize the contribution of our nurses, not only to their organization, but to the profession of nursing.

I think to me, the key takeaway is that let's use of technology and, to allow us to harness that power of data and transform these insights into tangible outcomes.

Host: Yeah. Jenna, how about you? Things that have stuck out. Key takeaways from you.

Jenna Fisher: Yeah, I think just going off of what Larissa shared, we spend a lot of time working with healthcare systems and researching and understanding where those pain points are, and coming from the healthcare system, certainly understand those pain points. Where I think the key takeaways are is that clarity is kind, and when you have data and you're able to be able to have line of sight into that data through use of technology, that is one of the most important things that you can bring to the healthcare systems that are managing and, serving so many people from day to day.

And that line of sight is important for the chief nurse officer. It's also important for the nursing leaders that are in management positions for your nursing professional development teams. And they're also very important for your clinicians that are giving direct patient care. I think that is one of the key takeaways is as we continue to bring solutions forward, we're bringing solutions forward that truly address the pain points of those that we serve every day.

Host: I like how you said that, clarity is kind. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So, as we continue on here, just a few more questions. Larissa, can you tell us something about your company?

Larissa Africa: Sure. So we are a tech enabled platform and our focus is helping people onboard an organization and helping them thrive in their careers within that organization. So our mission, all of our solutions, we make sure that we're going back to those who we serve and making sure that everyone succeeds in what they're doing.

Host: Absolutely. Yeah. That's great. Jenna, how about you?

Jenna Fisher: Yeah, I would say that, again, just to add on to what Larissa shared is, we've been very, very thoughtful about the way that we've approached this market to really understand the pain points all the way through to the recent acquisition of Staff Garden; to ensure that we are bringing companies into our fold that truly do meet the needs of the healthcare system, truly do meet the needs of the market. And I think, we know that technology, everyone's looking for technology to solve that problem. And I think our approach is really, we want to be the strategic partner with you to solve that problem.

So it's not just about the technology, it's about the pain point really that it's solving and how we partner with you to address those pain points and carry you forward.

Host: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for sharing that. Well, this has been great. I want to thank you both for stopping by today and spending some time with us.

Before we wrap up, I'd love to get final thoughts from each of you as we talk about harnessing the power of data, transforming insights into action for retention. Larissa, let me start with you. Final thoughts.

Larissa Africa: I think ultimately for us at Ascend Learning, it's about changing lives, right? It's about, yes, we use the data to informed our decisions, but ultimately it's changing the lives of our patients. It's changing the lives of our caregivers, of our nurses. So ultimately, that's our goal.

Host: Yeah. Jenna, how about you? Final thoughts?

Jenna Fisher: Yeah. If you think about that changing lives and you think about what we offer here at Ascend and what we're continuing to grow into, if we're able to support our nurses at the bedside, and we are able to ensure their competency as well as their continued professional development; then ultimately we also keep the patient safe as well. And so it really is about supporting the whole ecosystem, so to speak, where we're able to have that impact and change lives.

Host: Yeah, I think that's really a great point. You're not just changing the life of the nurse, but when you do that changing lives, you're also, getting better outcomes. You're changing the lives of the people that the nurses are caring for. So it's really kind of a twofold mission of changing lives. It really makes a lot of sense when, when you make the nurse better, ultimately you're going to make the patient better. Right?

Jenna Fisher: Absolutely.

Host: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

Well, I want to thank both of you for your time today. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you. Yeah, once again, that's Larissa Africa and Jenna Fisher. And for more information, please visit aonl.org. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels. And once again, we would like to thank Ascend Learning.

You can visit them at ascendhws.com. And we'd also like to thank Staff Garden. You can visit them at staffgarden.com. We want to thank them for sponsoring the podcast today. And once again, this is Today in Nursing Leadership. Thanks for listening.