Blood and Marrow Transplant Outreach Presentation Promoting BMT Nursing as a Career Choice: Pre and Post Survey Results

The System Capacity Initiative (SCI), sponsored by the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), was convened to evaluate and provide recommendations for addressing workforce and infrastructure challenges for current and future utilization of blood and marrow transplant (BMT).  The Nursing Workforce Group (NWG) was established to address projected shortages of BMT nurses. After surveying BMT nurses, the NWG identified several priority challenges, including the recruitment of nurses to the BMT field. In an effort to increase the number of BMT nurses, an outreach presentation entitled ‘Introduction to BMT' was developed and delivered to nursing students throughout the U.S. The one-hour presentation describes the BMT process, identifies various nursing roles in BMT, and describes the benefits of working in this area.  A brief pre and post survey is administered to assess the students' change in awareness of BMT as a career option, nursing career preferences, likelihood of pursuing a BMT career, and previous education/training in BMT after listening to the presentation.  To date, the presentation, and pre and post surveys, was delivered to a total of 181 nursing students. The majority of students had not previously considered a career in BMT (56.9%). However, the presentation significantly increased nursing students' interest in pursuing a BMT career (N=61; p<0.0001).  Additionally, students' indicated that ‘feeling valued' (62.5%), ‘intellectual stimulation' (66.3%), ‘emotional gratification of providing patient care' (69.5%) and ‘interest in subject matter' (69.5%) were very important career aspects (see Figure 1.) The NWG in partnership with Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) and American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (ASBMT) is continuing to promote the presentation to increase awareness of BMT nursing as a career option. It will be available for professional development of licensed nurses and continuing nursing education credit will be provided.