July 2015 - Volume 12 - Issue 1

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Your Pathway to Success: Critical

Care Training at Miami Dade
College
By Dr. Annabelle Scott and Priscilla Suarez

Just a few short years ago, care for critically ill

patients could only be provided in intensive care units
(ICU) or coronary care units (CCU). Today, the field of
critical care has expanded, increasing the demand for
specially trained nurses to provide safe and
appropriate care in various settings such as neuro
ICU, surgical ICU, cardiac ICU, pediatric ICU,
neonatal ICU, telemetry units, step down units,
emergency rooms, post anesthesia recovery units
and even satellite units where moderate sedation is
provided, to name a few. The result has been a surge
in opportunities for nurses who are eager to work in
critical care settings. According to the American
Association of Critical Care Nurses (2015), registered
nurses, nurse practitioners and other healthcare
practitioners “are being increasingly integrated into
intensive care units and hospital-based care teams”
as a strategy to utilize staffing more effectively and
enhance quality of care.

In 2014, Miami Dade College’s (MDC) School of

Continuing Education and Professional Development
(SCEPD) at the Medical Campus saw the growing need
to train nurses in this area and began to lay the
groundwork for a Critical Care Training curriculum. The
work was timely, as recent shifts in critical care have
begun to leave many nurses wondering about the right
“track” for their career. They know specialized
knowledge and skills are needed to care for very sick
patients with complex diagnoses. Unfortunately,
however, only a few hospitals offer critical care training
due to time constraints, funding priorities and other
challenges. In addition, experienced critical care nurses
are preferred over the novice learner. These concerns
served as the impetus for MDC’s Critical Care Training.

The program was designed by Dr. Annabelle Scott, an

Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner (ARNP) with
over 35 years of nursing and critical care experience,
utilizing data provided by industry partners, literature
reviews, local hospitals and healthcare experts. Dr.
Scott is an advocate for nurses, having oriented,
precepted and mentored several outstanding
healthcare professionals throughout her career. She
also serves as adjunct faculty for the program and
provides an in-depth, comprehensive review of
materials using multiple modalities, including
PowerPoint presentations, class discussions, case
studies, return demonstrations, simulation lab and
competency evaluations. Students with at least one
year of nursing experience in the medical-surgical
environment are eligible to enroll in the 80-hour course,
as they will acquire fundamental knowledge to ease
their transition into a high-intensity setting.

The inaugural class launched in Summer 2014 with a

group of 12 and while many met the minimum eligibility
standards, several students within the class were
nurses already working in critical care units. “I think all
nurses working in critical care areas should take the
course to refresh and learn more,” Yoan Guerra, RN,
states. Student Noemi Claire Lee also provided positive
feedback: “The instructor made the course easy to
understand, exciting, and it really made my brain work.
I like the content that was covered.”

SCEPD at Medical Campus recognizes that the

success of these nurses depends primarily on how they
are oriented, supported and mentored in their
healthcare organizations, and are thus committed to
providing students with access to modern healthcare
technology and up-to-date critical care knowledge
throughout the training’s duration. Additionally, the
program, through Dr. Scott’s instruction, emphasizes
the importance of upholding the caring values in daily
critical care practice to help students transcend from a
state of perceiving nursing as “just a job,” to one of
appreciating it as a gratifying and meaningful
profession. After all, caring must not be allowed to
simply wither away from nursing practice, especially in
an age when societal demographics are changing,
healthcare costs are increasing and information
technology is re-designing the delivery of care.

For more information regarding Critical Care Training,

contact Ericka Beckford, Program Specialist for The
School of Continuing Education and Professional
Development at Medical Campus, at (305) 237-4177 or
ebeckfor@mdc.edu.

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