Joint Commission 360: Staffing, Competency, and the Future of Readiness

Becky Ruban, MSN, RN, SHRM SC-P, Director of Nursing Clinical Learning, Lippincott Solutions by Wolters Kluwer

Explore the impact of the Accreditation 360 update in this interactive session. Join the conversation as we unpack the new standards, their focus on outcomes, real-time competency, and staff well-being. Share insights and learn how your peers are planning for these changes and their role in fostering continuous readiness. This is your chance to learn, engage and gain a deeper understanding of how these shifts will shape the future of NPD.

Advancing Excellence: Scaling TSAM® from Strategy to System-Wide Practice

Jai Shah, Co-Founder & CEO, Kahuna, Facilitator
Jocelyn Pearson, DNP, RN, ACNS-BC, Nurse Administrator, Nursing Professional Development Innovation - Enterprise, Mayo Clinic
Sarah Shreckhise, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, Director, Ambulatory Clinical Professional Development, UVA Health
Kaitlin Drake, MSN, RN, NPD-BC, System Director, Clinical and Professional Education, Bozeman Health 

As healthcare organizations work to standardize competency and accelerate readiness across nursing teams, many are turning to the Tiered Skills Acquisition Model (TSAM®), Mayo Clinic’s orientation model, as a structured, evidence-based foundation.
In this panel discussion, leaders from Mayo Clinic, UVA Health, and Bozeman Health share their real-world experiences implementing TSAM® at different stages of adoption, from early planning to mature, digitally scaled programs. Facilitated by Jai Shah, CEO of Kahuna, the conversation will explore how organizations move from concept to execution, navigate change management, and translate TSAM® into sustainable, system-wide practice.

Learning Outcomes

• Understand the strategic advantages of standardizing competencies using accredited, third-party content like TSAM®, including change management benefits and time-to-competence measurement.
• Explore TSAM®'s evolution from a foundational tiered methodology to a digital format, including governance structures, version control, and systematic integration of specialty roles.
• Compare implementation approaches across organizations at different stages: pre-implementation planning, phased rollout strategies, and mature adoption with digital scale.
• Identify key considerations for TSAM® adoption, including content cross-walking, curriculum alignment, preceptor training requirements, and digital platform integration.
• Examine the progression from paper-based TSAM® implementation to comprehensive digital deployment and the associated impacts across nursing populations.

Modernizing a Clinical Ladder Program to Achieve Sustainable Outcomes  

Barbra Turner DNP, RN, FFNMRCSI, System Director Nursing Practice and Professional Development, Bon Secours Mercy Health System, Inc.
Larissa Africa, MBA, RN, CENP, FAONL, FAAN, Vice President, Healthcare Workforce Solutions, StaffGarden & HWS by Ascend Learning 

Clinical Ladder Programs have long been recognized as a driver of professional development, engagement, and retention – yet many programs struggle to deliver consistent, measurable impact due to manual processes and lack of standardization. 
In this session, Bon Secours Mercy Health shares how it modernized its Clinical Ladder Program using a technology enabled, system wide approach. Attendees will learn how digitizing and standardizing clinical ladder improved efficiency, increased transparency, strengthened engagement, and supported Magnet reporting. This session offers practical insights for NPD specialists seeking sustainable, scalable strategies to advance clinical excellence while reducing administrative burden.

 
Learning Objectives: 

• Describe the limitations of traditional, manually managed clinical ladder programs  
• Explain the impact of lack of standardization on efficiency, engagement, and the ability to demonstrate organizational outcomes. 
• Identify key components of a technology enabled, system wide clinical ladder program. 
• Apply practical strategies for modernizing clinical ladder programs to reduce administrative burden, improve nurse engagement and retention, and support Magnet® documentation and reporting requirements. 

AI You Can Trust: Nurse‑Centered Evaluation at the Bedside

Tammy Purcell, MSN, RNC-OB, Clinical Nurse Executive, Elsevier
Jessie Scapinello, MSN, RN, Clinical Nurse Executive, Elsevier
Jaimie Talir, MSN, RN, NPD-BC, RN, Program Manager, Clinical Education, SSM Health
Edicarl Navales, BSN, RN, NPD-BC, CCRN, RN, Program Manager, Clinical Education, SSM Health
Heidi Gilbert, MSN, RN, CEN, TCRN, SANE-A, ED, Clinical Educator, ENA Board of Directors, Stillwater Medical Center

What if AI could give nurses more time for patient care? 

Join us for an interactive panel discussion where nurse leaders will discuss navigating the evolving role of AI in healthcare, including how to evaluate AI clinical decision support tools for trustworthiness and reliability. Explore how nurse-informed AI can serve as a clinical support partner, amplifying clinical expertise and judgment, rather than replacing it. 

The panel will discuss how to support a nurse-centered approach to adopting reliable AI that aligns with nursing workflows, evidence-based practice and clear reasoning. Gain practical pathways to close the AI readiness gap, ensuring AI-enabled tools are implemented in ways that strengthen nursing education, practice, and patient outcomes. 

Plus, learn about ClinicalKey for Nursing AI — a NEW bedside-ready, AI powered assistant from Elsevier designed to support nurses with trusted, realtime clinical insights when it matters most. 

VR for the Busy Educator: Simplifying Competencies and Residency Programs

Dawn-Marie Dunbar, RN, MSN/Ed., CNE, CHSE

This session will discuss how to reclaim professional bandwidth by shifting from manual setups to streamlined, scalable simulations. This session explores how Virtual Reality (VR) functions as a sustainable, self-facilitated modality that meets the needs of both novice and expert nurses without the physical constraints of traditional labs. Attendees will discover strategies to implement on-demand simulation for orientation and residency, allowing for consistent practice without constant educator oversight. The presentation demonstrates how to replace time-consuming 1-on-1 observations with automated performance data — educators to focus on high-level mentorship while preserving their most valuable resource: time.

Learning Objectives

• Contrast VR simulation with traditional skills labs to reduce educator setup time while increasing learner engagement.
• Adapt existing residency scenarios into self-paced VR formats for independent, hands-on practice.
• Utilize VR performance data for objective competency validation, eliminating the need for 1-on-1 observation.

Building the Case for Change: How NPD Leaders Scale EBP

Amy Hu, DNP, RN, NPD-BC, CCRN-K, Professional Development Specialist, RN Residency Program Coordinator 
Melissa Gorman, RN, MSN, Corporate Manager of Nursing Professional Development

NPD leaders are uniquely positioned to advance evidence-based practice and research, but often face fragmented processes, limited clinician confidence, and challenges securing organizational support for scalable solutions. This session brings together leaders from a large health system and a pediatric specialty organization to share how they translated their vision into action through strategic technology adoption.

Presenters will describe their roles in identifying organizational needs, guiding EBP and research councils, and advocating for executive investment. Attendees will learn how John Muir Health and Shriners Children’s addressed key barriers to EBP and improvement work, aligned initiatives with organizational priorities, and built the business case for change. The session will explore the innovation journey, including needs assessment, stakeholder engagement, ROI development, funding approval, and implementation planning.

Participants will hear real-world outcomes and lessons learned, including improvements in clinician engagement, efficiency, and sustainability of EBP and research efforts. The session will conclude with a live demonstration of Ovid Synthesis, illustrating how a guided, collaborative platform can support clinicians, residents, mentors, and NPD leaders in accelerating and celebrating evidence-based practice across diverse care settings.  Participants will leave with actionable tools and insights they can immediately apply to elevate EBP capacity and organizational readiness within their own systems.

Partnering for Success:  Building an Internal Training Program with MedCerts

Jennifer Kolb, Vice President of Partnerships and Workforce Development

Healthcare organizations are facing growing workforce shortages and rising staffing costs. In this session, discover how partnering with MedCerts can help you build an effective in-house training program that develops talent from within. Learn how to identify critical workforce gaps, launch structured training cohorts, and provide flexible, accredited learning pathways for your employees. Walk away with practical strategies to reduce vacancies, improve retention, and build a stronger, future-ready healthcare workforce with MedCerts.

From Binders to Breakthroughs: Reinventing Competency Management for the Modern Nurse

Trisha Coady, BSN, PMC, Executive Vice President, Workforce Development Solutions

Nurses and educators have long been buried in paperwork and subjective documentation. Discover how technology-forward solutions are replacing manual competency validation with structured, taxonomy-driven frameworks and allowing educators to focus on outcomes over spreadsheets.

When competencies are consistently defined and digitally tracked through a Skills Passport, that data becomes actionable — informing smarter decisions like shift mix, staffing, and career pathing. Because educators don't just deserve better tools, they deserve a system that finally works as hard as they do.

Where Competence Meets Confidence: Building a High-Performing Nursing Workforce 

Kathy Casey, PhD, RN, NPD-BC, FAAN, Professional Development Specialist, Casey-Fink Surveys
Eric W. Heckerson, EdD, RN, FACHE, System Director of Nursing Education, Practice, & Standards, CHRISTUS Health
Lisa McEathron, MSN, RN, NPD-BC, CCRN, Internationally Educated Nurse Program, MultiCare Health System
Robin Petersen, MSN, RNC-OB, C-EFM, NPD-BC, Program Manager for Nursing Continuing Education, MultiCare Health System
Felicia Sadler, MJ, BSN, RN, CPHQ, LSSBB, VP Quality, Partner, Clinical Workforce Development, Relias 

This interactive panel brings together professional development leaders to explore how competence and confidence intersect to drive nursing excellence. Panelists will examine the key drivers, structures, and processes that support a capable and confident nursing workforce, share evidence-based strategies that enhance performance and improve satisfaction, and discuss approaches for supporting diverse and internationally educated nurses. Through audience engagement and real-world examples, the panel will highlight how workforce development and NPD leadership initiatives can be evaluated and leveraged to improve engagement, retention, and organizational success.  
 
Learning objectives:

• Analyze key drivers that strongly correlate to competence and confidence in the nursing workforce.
• Design education and support strategies that enhance the performance of newly licensed nurses.
• Evaluate the impact of professional development and leadership initiatives.