Co-development of a national, bilingual, post-licensure accredited educational program for registered nurses in primary care: A knowledge-to-action exemplar

Abstract

Registered nurses’ practice in primary care varies and is sometimes sub-optimal. To fill the gap in primary care-specific knowledge, we co-constructed a national educational program to reinforce the nursing workforce. We based our project on the knowledge-to-action approach. Many lessons were learned during the development phase: (1) The experiential knowledge of patient partners and stakeholders allows an education program based on real needs; (2) The development of a national education program requires high-intensity investment from all involved persons; (3) An in-person meeting at the beginning of the project enables robust discussions and optimal co-creation; and (4) In a country where two official languages are spoken, it’s essential to create a safe environment and a translation infrastructure that allows everyone to express themselves in the language of their choice. Finally, other initiatives in healthcare education or professional practice improvement could leverage our findings to realize national-scale projects using knowledge creation approaches.