Four-Day Nursing Education Brings 370 Good Shepherd Staff to Cedar Crest
Good Shepherd Rehabilitation held a four-day, all-network mandatory nursing education event at Cedar Crest College in March 2026, featuring 21 simulation stations and awarding RNs and LPNs four CEUs.
Nurses are essential, 24/7 caregivers at Good Shepherd Rehabilitation. They provide direct patient and resident care, coordinate care plans, administer treatments, manage patient stability and act as critical safety checks for adult and pediatric patients.
While nursing staff members are undoubtedly busy, they also must make time for annual mandatory education and continuing education (CE) credits. Education helps nursing staff maintain state licensure and stay up to date on new technology and advances in care.
Looking to move away from a unit-specific annual education approach, Good Shepherd’s nursing education team sought to take the annual happening to a new level – like an all-network education event spread over four days bringing nearly 400 nursing staff together in one spot.
Partnering with Cedar Crest College
Needing a space to host the event, Good Shepherd turned to partners at Cedar Crest College and the School of Nursing in Allentown. The timing – March 2026 – was perfect.
“Our goal was to bring all the mandatory nurse education together in one large location,” said Director of Professional Excellence Carol Domzalski, MSN, RN, CRRN, NE-BC. “We scheduled it for over Cedar Crest College’s spring break, which allowed us to take over a large portion of their academic health building and use the college nursing program’s simulation lab for the four days. We’re very grateful for our friends at Cedar Crest.”
Domzalski and Jolene Klotz, MSN, RN, CRRN, director of nursing at Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Hospital, have a great relationship with the college’s nursing program, staff and students, which helped open the door to the space. Domzalski and Klotz teach a course (“The Road to Recovery: The Specialty Practice of Rehab Nursing”) at the college during the summer session, and Cedar Crest’s nursing students do clinical rotations at Good Shepherd units.
“In over 30 years of being a nurse, including large, academic medical centers, I have never seen a better nursing mandatory education.”
Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer Thea Burke, DNP, RN, NE-BC
Planning & Logistics
With the space secured, nursing educators Brianna Trumbauer, BSN, RN, CRRN, Terri Rogers, MSN, RN, and Kristen LaDuca, MSN, RN, CNE, CMSRN, headed up the logistics and planning for the event, which featured 21 simulation stations, including a mock code with CPR and a spinal cord injury simulation.
The team developed educational content, acquired supplies, organized volunteers and coordinated nursing staff attendance. They created a personal folder for each participant, which was handed out at registration. They also had the help and support along the way of their fellow educators Ana Maria Garcia, MSN, RN, CPN, CRRN, Cheri McCarthy, MSN, RN-BC, PCCN, CCRN, and Haley Minaya, MSN, RN, CRRN.
Prior to the March 2026 event, registered nurses (RNs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs), certified nursing assistants (CNAs) and nursing assistants (NAs) from throughout Good Shepherd selected a time slot to attend the education, with hands-on stations allowing participants to demonstrate their competencies. Staff members’ roles at each facility determined the stations they had to attend. RNs and LPNs received four continuing education units (CEUs) for their attendance.
Going Beyond Logistics
“Our long-term care nursing staff talked about wanting more education, and having the mandatory education scheduled as stations in a larger space made them feel heard and appreciated,” said LaDuca, who oversees nursing education at Good Shepherd Home – Raker Center. “While this event was critical to ensure nursing teams maintain the knowledge, competencies and skills necessary to deliver safe, high-quality patient and resident care, it also helped our nursing team know how valued they are and allowed them to get to know each other.”
Good Shepherd’s collaborative environment served as a catalyst to make the event successful, with 370 nursing staff members taking part. Beyond the nursing educators, Good Shepherd respiratory therapists, wound care experts, occupational health nursing, physical therapists, numerous nursing staff, managers, supervisors, couriers and “too many more to name” supported the large-scale event, according to the team.
“It was a great success and we could not have accomplished this without all of the help. Our staff members told us it was the best mandatory education experience they ever had,” said Trumbauer, who provides nursing education at Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Hospital. “Having the space to spread out the education in one location made it a more enjoyable experience. It was very organized, and it flowed.”
Good Shepherd is committed to staying on top of the ever-changing healthcare and nursing landscape, since nursing makes up the largest staff in the organization.
“We value providing the education nurses need,” Trumbauer said. “Not every organization has a collaborative education department like the one Good Shepherd has, with nurse educators available and visible to the staff and education a priority.”
The event was so successful that the nursing education team plans to host it again in a similar way next year.
“In over 30 years of being a nurse, including large, academic medical centers, I have never seen a better nursing mandatory education,” said Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer Thea Burke, DNP, RN, NE-BC. “The organization and level of detail was amazing and being able to use the Cedar Crest Simulation Center is fantastic.”