PRINCIPLES FOR SUCCESSFUL STAFF DEVELOPMENT A body of educational concepts and principles underlies successful staff development.

The ultimate responsibility for continuing education or professional development rests with the employee. Therefore, employees suggestions should be solicited when planning, implementing, and evaluating staff-development programs. Most learning is a combination of experience and conceptualization. Therefore, employees learn best when cast into situations that encourage self-discovery of significant information, concepts, and skills Learning is an internal, personal, emotional process. Therefore, methods and techniques that involve the individual on a deeply personal level produce the most significant and last learning Learning involves a change in behaviour, and it is difficult to change habitual behaviour. Hence, people learn best when they are slightly off balance or slightly uncomfortable. Old ideas, and habits must be shaken or unfrozen before new thoughts, pastimes, actions, and attitudes can be wholeheartedly undertaken Although a child learner rapidly accepts dependence on an adult teacher, the adult learner demands autonomy in seeking, regulating, and using learning experiences. Therefore, an authoritarian manner is ineffective in teaching adults. An adult learner should be encouraged to contribute questions, examples, and information during instructional sessions Although a child is willing to postpone the application of new learning, adults learn best when lesson content can be applied immediately. Therefore, a case method, problem-solving teaching format is well suited for nursing staff development Behaviour that is positively rewarded is likely to be repeated. Learners need quick, hearty applause or other positive feedback when they display a new behaviour that they have been asked to perform Individuals tend to organize all aspects of a total learning situation into an integrated whole. Therefore, each aspect of a learning situation should complement or supplement every other, so all educational components interlock to support desired objectives The transfer of learning is maximized when training occurs in situations closely resembling those where the learned behaviour should be applied. Therefore, illustrative examples, descriptive studies, and practice exercises should resemble work problems frequently encountered by the employee

 The transfer of learning is maximized when managers reinforce changes in employees behaviour resulting from staff development activities. When it becomes necessary to change professional practice behaviors, several employees should be educated simultaneously to display the desired knowledge, skills, or attitudes. Group instruction will stimulate employees to support each other in perpetuating the desired behaviour change and will motivate them to model the desired behaviour for other employees Learning is an active not a passive phenomenon. Therefore, it is more effective to give a trainee a task goal, guidelines for goal achievement, and opportunity to work out details of optimum task performance than to direct the employee to mimic an expert practitioners skilled performance of the task Adults are self-directed and possess a huge reservoir of experience from which to draw when learning new knowledge and skill. Unfortunately, memory associations cause proactive inhibition of learning for some content. To design individualized staff development experiences, a teacher must obtain information about the adult learners present life circumstances, past education and employment, and future career aspirations Adult learners are heterogeneous, with extremely different life experiences, motivation levels, cognitive styles, learning speeds, and sensual preferences. Each staff development programe should include a variety source materials, teaching and learning methods, and audio visual aids to satisfy the needs of diverse learners ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE OF A STAFF DEVELOPMENT The major factors that determine the administrative structure of an agency-wide staff development programe are Administrative philosophy, policies, and practices of health care agency Policies, practices and standards of nursing and other health professions Human and material resources within a health care agency and the community Physical facilities within a health care agency and the community Financial resources within a health care agency and the community

Qualifications of staff development personnel The qualifications required in staff development personnel depend on the nature of staff development task to be performed that is administration, teaching, counseling. People in various disciplines must be used to help in assessing staff-staff development needs, recommending where and how these needs can be met, and in planning, organizing, implementing and evaluating staff development programme.