Background:. After conducting an educational needs assessment, a knowledge gap was identified related to defect and physiology of the complex cardiac patient. Cardiac Center Education Days (CCED) were created to provide a foundation for individual success and improved patient care across the cardiac center and beyond. This program is designed for new to practice nurses to the pediatric cardiology field. This includes nurses from the following units; Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU), Cardiac Care Unit (CCU) comprised of step-down cardiac patients, Infant Transitional Care Unit (ITCU) comprised of step-down neonatal cardiac patients, and the Nursing Operations Department (NOD) who includes all float nurses to the institution. The learning opportunities presented are designed to enhance communication and collaboration between the inter professional team to improve team dynamics. The content is divided into 8 weeks with two 1-hour didactic sessions followed by an interactive application to implement critical thinking skills by introducing nursing considerations for patients with a specific diagnosis or defect.

Methods: The program evaluation includes pre and post education surveys to evaluate effectiveness of content delivery and retention of knowledge. A Likert scale was used to evaluate both relevance of material and application of knowledge based on area of practice. 

Results: 4 cohorts have currently completed the program (n=75). The average pre test score = 57%. The average post test score = 77%. The % change from pre to post yielded a 35% increase in pre test to post test scores. Likert scale data yielded 100% of the time nurses found the material relevant to their area of practice and 100% of nurses will apply knowledge learned to their area of practice.

Conclusion: The development of didactic education coupled with application of critical thinking in the care of the complex cardiac patient is a critical aspect of the orientation process and development of nurses new to practice. The preliminary data has shown an increase in comprehension of knowledge. Subjective data revealed that regardless of area of practice, nurses have found the material relevant and applicable to their areas. To assess retention of knowledge overtime, a transfer test was sent to all previous participants who completed the course >3 months ago to evaluate what their post test scores are after having taken the course and practiced independently. The goal is to have >77% on the transfer tests.