The subject of this thesis was to plan an introductory briefing manual for the plastic surgery and urology ward at the Oulu University Hospital. The subject for this thesis was provided by a head nurse at the ward. The current introduction guide used at the ward was out-dated and only existed in paper form. The employer has a legal duty to carry out proper work briefing governed by the occupational safety law.

Our goal for this project was encourage the staff and new employees to approve the fin-ished product and take it into use and have it as a learning guide. The long-term goal is that introductory briefing would be more planned and thereby more effective.

The new guide was produced in co-operation and with the support of the ward staff who acted as experts for the content of the manual. Additional support was provided by the editor of the communications department, who helped to transfer this work to the intranet. The manual was assessed by nursing students and ward employees using an evaluation form.

The guide was made to be used easily and to be compatible with the PPSHP (the Northern Ostrobothnia Hospital District) intranet system. The benefits of the web form were the ease of updating and collecting of data to one location. The manual contains basic information of the areas of specialization and hyperlinks that provide more detailed information (e.g. information about particular nursing methods). The staff and the head nurse evaluated the product to be functional and to-the-point.

An additional goal is to use this manual, with only small modifications, when briefing nursing students.