Meeting the learning needs of AMU nurses through collaborative working.

The 'Nursing the Acute Medical Patient' level 8 continuing professional development (CPD) programme was developed to support the learning needs of staff nurses within an acute medical unit (AMU) in an Irish academic teaching hospital. Within this recently-established AMU, the nursing team was challenged by the complexity of clinical presentations. At the outset of the programme, over half of nurses employed in the AMU had less than 5 years' clinical experience. The 6-month CPD programme was developed collaboratively by the registered nurse tutor, advanced nurse practitioner candidate (trainee) in acute medicine and the clinical facilitator. The programme was accredited by University College Dublin, and awarded 10 European Credit Transfer System credits. Clinical competency assessment had to be completed in order to pass the programme and was facilitated by the development of the Comprehensive Clinical Learning Objective Performance Evaluation (CLOPE) document. The programme was positively evaluated by students and the wider multidisciplinary team. It has made a significant contribution to both staff development and the delivery of evidence-based care in the AMU.