Genesis of a Professional Development Tool for Ambulatory Pediatric Nursing Practice

The purpose of this project was to develop a system that would allow ambulatory pediatric nurses to describe their practice and to develop in their role as nurses. Patricia Benner's novice to expert philosophy has been used to describe the practice of nurses in many specialties; however, it has not been applied to ambulatory pediatric practice. A group of nurses at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin used Benner's philosophy to generate behaviors that evolved from the novice to the expert within the domains of nursing practice outlined in the ambulatory nurse job description. This tool has been implemented as part of the performance review process and is given to new nurses on orientation as a framework for nurses' professional development.