Background: Advanced warnings and concerns were given regarding a worldwide, national, statewide, and local nursing shortage. COVID exacerbated it. Nurses have left the profession due to COVID burnout or optioned for early retirement. Nursing schools have increasingly turned away qualified nursing applicants because they are unable to accommodate the anticipated student influx with current, up-to-date, qualified educators. Evidence-Based Practice Framework: Dr. Patricia Benner’s Novice to Expert Nursing Theory, Control Theory, and the Model for Evidence-Based Practice Change provided the framework for this project. Its purpose was to survey the confidence levels of current nursing school instructors. A skills day offering educators updates on protocols and equipment was performed. Results demonstrated an elevation in educator confidence when instructing, demonstrating, and assessing hard skills in nursing instructors. Methods: Internet search engines were utilized on the topic of nurse educator skills enhancements returned approximately fifty articles. Their themes ranged from definitions tothe need of hard skills maintenance. Most articles found focused on continuing education (CEU’s) and certification or soft skills. Handbooks defined educator skills proficiencies and gaps. Little to no evidence specifically addressing nursing educator hard skills maintenance. Likert scale examples were used to formulate three identical confidence-level surveys: a pre-event (baseline), an immediately post event (growth), and a two-weeks post-event (level of growth retention). A skills day was planned to support specific hard skills enhancement. Findings: Data showed increased levels of educator confidence after participating in a skills day offering, demonstrating a positive outcome for this proposed practice change. A two-week post-event survey showed retained levels of confidence. Conclusions/Recommendations: An educator’s confidence in their ability to perform hard nursing skills declines if away from providing bedside cares for long periods of time. An instructor’s confidence bridges the educational gap between nursing hard and soft skills requirements. Educators participated in a skills-day and experienced a rise in confidence level. This, in turn, increased student competencies. Facilities must provide opportunities whereby educator hard skills proficiencies can be nurtured, enhanced, and blostered. When students view their instructors with trust, their confidence increases, and graduate as competent nurses in a professional working environment.
