Original Research

Oncology Nurse Practitioner Web Education Resource(ONc-PoWER): An Evaluation of a Web-Enhanced Education Resource for Nurse Practitioners Who Are New to Cancer Care

Rosemary L. Hoffmann, PhD, RN, CNL, Sara Klein, MS, BSN, RN, Mary Connolly, BSN, RN, and Margaret Quinn Rosenzweig, PhD, FNP-BC, AOCNP®, FAAN

University of Pittsburgh, School of Nursing, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Authors’ disclosures of conflicts of interest are found at the end of this article.

Rosemary L. Hoffmann, PhD, RN, CNL, University of Pittsburgh, School of Nursing, 3500 Victoria Street, 336 Victoria Building, Pittsburgh, PA 15261. E-mail: rho100@pitt.edu

ABSTRACT

The nurse practitioner (NP) new to an advanced role in a specialty practice may find the orientation period challenging while expanding his or her professional knowledge base. The Oncology Nurse Practitioner Web Education Resource (ONc-PoWER), a web-enhanced continuing education program, provides training for both the oncology NP (ONP) new to cancer care (i.e., within the first year) and his or her on-site mentor. The Oncology Nurse Practitioner Web Education Resource promotes essential didactic and skills development via five modules. A total of 103 dyads (i.e., a new ONP and his or her mentor) were recruited from 27 states to participate in ONc-PoWER, and 79 dyads completed surveys to evaluate the program. Data were collected between April 2012 and October 2016. We observed statistical significance (p = .000) between pre- and post-program self-assessment of cancer care knowledge and confidence in delivering cancer care among ONPs. Moreover, mentors rated the program favorably. Mentor agreement concerning whether or not the ONPs were able to successfully perform 30 core clinical skills ranged from a low of 93% to a high of 100%. Furthermore, mean scores of the course satisfaction survey demonstrate that each ONc-PoWER objective either met or exceeded learner expectations.

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