Effects of a continuing education program on nurses' practices of cancer pain assessment and their acceptance of patients' pain reports

A hospital-based quasi-experimental (pretest and post-test) study was conducted in Kaohsiung Veteran General Hospital, Taiwan. This study was to evaluate a continuing education program (CEP) on nurses' practices of cancer pain assessment and their acceptance of patients' pain reports with respect to four types of misconceptions. A questionnaire was sent to on-duty nurses or head nurses with patient care responsibilities before the implementation of CEP (n=645) and six months after the program (n=630). The response rates were 92.6% and 91.3% for pretest and post-test surveys, respectively. The CEP was implemented in 8 weeks with four-repeated sessions of 4-hour lectures. A one-day workshop focused on cancer pain assessment and treatment was held 3 months after the four-repeated sessions. Several educational strategies and teaching materials were used in the CEP. The results showed that CEP made statistically significant yet moderate improvement in nurses' practices of pain assessment using pain rating scales (pretest 3.29+/-0.76 vs. post-test 3.48+/-0.75, P<0.001) and acceptance of patient's pain reports without misconceptions on addiction (3.12+/-0.80 vs. 3.39+/-0.90, P<0.001), phantom pain (3.91+/-0.96 vs. 4.07+/-0.92, P=0.005), and placebo testing (3.63+/-0.72 vs. 3.81+/-0.73, P<0.001), except on patient gender-age-related doubts (3.60+/-0.72 vs. 3.67+/-0.77, P=0.109). In order to achieve further improvement, additional follow-up CEP combined with a hospital-wide institutionalization of pain assessment should be promoted and implemented in the future.     

Nurses' assessment of patients' spirituality: continuing education implications

This article reports the results of a study to determine the extent to which nurses assessed patients' spiritual needs, indicators of spirituality used in the assessments, data collection methods used, and nurses' demographic information related to assessment and methods of data collection. Boutell's Inventory for Identifying Nurses' Assessment of Patients' Spiritual Needs was developed. Test-retest indicated an acceptable level of reliability. The Inventory was sent to a random sample of 817 nurses eligible to practice nursing in Oklahoma, yielding 238 (29%) usable questionnaires. Criteria for inclusion in the study were that the nurses needed to be employed and giving direct care to patients 18 years of age or older. Findings indicate that the majority of nurses assessed their patients' spiritual needs from a moderate to considerable extent. They most frequently assessed for fears, sources of strength, and feelings of hope. Least frequently assessed were integration, giving love to God, meaning in suffering, and transcendence. Moreover, nurses ages 50 to 59 and psychiatric nurses were more likely than other nurses to assess the spiritual realm. Availability of time and patient acuity were major factors that influenced assessment. Data were most frequently obtained through observation of patients and discussions with patients rather than from secondary sources, such as clergy or patient records. Also, the nurses' basic educational preparation was not found to influence assessment. Suggestions for continuing education and programs are made.     

军队医院医生对护士继续教育的期望

目的 了解军队医院医生对护士继续教育的需求与内容期望,为护理继续教育的开展提供科学依据.方法 抽取9所综合性军队医院医生416名,使用"临床护士继续教育需求及期望问卷"对其进行问卷调查.结果 93.27%的医生对护士有进一步提高军人基本素养的期望,医生认为护士在病情观察能力、基础和专科护理操作技能与理论知识、急危重症患...     

护理人员继续护理学教育需求的研究进展

文章叙述了护理人员继续护理学教育需求的相关定义,并通过探讨目前继续护理学教育需求的研究对象、内容、研究工具和研究结果等,明确护理人员的继续护理学教育需求现状、影响需求的相关因素及目前存在的问题,以期为今后开展相关研究提供依据.     

Cardiac nurses' views of continuing professional education.

BACKGROUND: There is little information available on cardiovascular nurses' attitudes to continuing professional education. Anecdotally many nurses profess that they require additional study days to keep updated in practice; however these are not always available at local level. This survey aimed to capture the views of cardiovascular nurses with regard to their continuing education needs. AIMS: This research aimed to identify cardiovascular nurses' views on continuing professional education. METHODS: A 26-item questionnaire collected data from 195 cardiovascular nurses in the Republic of Ireland. Response rate was 52% (n=102). RESULTS: Most nurses had attended an educational event in the last 3-6 months and national conferences and local initiatives provided most of these latter services. Most respondents received both funding and study leave to attend. Nurses preferred method of keeping up-to-date was by means of conference and study days, journal use was also frequent. A high level of access to electronic resources was reported. Midweek was the preferred time for continuing education to occur. CONCLUSIONS: The findings reveal a positive attitude to continuing professional education. They also support the endeavours of national professional organisations, such as INCA and highlight the important role that these organisations play in the provision of ongoing education to cardiovascular nurses.     

Effects of a pain education program on nurses' pain knowledge, attitudes and pain assessment practices in China

The purpose of this study was to develop, implement, and evaluate the impact of a Pain Education Program (PEP) for nurses in China. The effects of PEP were measured in a quasi-experimental design. A total of 196 nurses who met the inclusion criteria from five nursing units in two teaching hospitals participated in the study. Randomization took place at the hospital level to select experimental and control groups. The research intervention was the PEP, which had two components: (1) to educate nurses about pain management and (2) to implement daily pain assessment by using the Changhai Pain Scale. The duration of PEP was five weeks and intervention methods included focused education, group activity, and individual instruction. After the baseline data were collected, PEP was implemented in the experimental group. The control group (n = 90) received no intervention, and the experimental group (n = 106) received six hours of focused education training. During the fourth and fifth weeks of the training program, the researcher and the faculty instructed nurses in five nursing units on how to use the Changhai Pain Scale to assess patients’ pain levels and demonstrated how to document pain condition in the nursing records. Nurses in both groups filled out a set of questionnaires, which included a background information form and the Nurses’ Knowledge and Attitude Survey form, before the PEP (T1), at one month after the PEP (T2), and at three months after the PEP (T3). Nurses in the experimental group who received the PEP had a significant improvement in their pain knowledge and attitudes. Their scores on the Nurses’ Knowledge and Attitude Survey increased from 15.67 at T1 to 26.13 at T2 and 35.14 at T3. The scores of nurses in the control group were unchanged (from 15.20 at T1 to 14.29 at T2 and 14.93 at T3, P > 0.05). In addition, experimental group nurses had an improvement in pain assessment. The percentage of nurses who correctly used the Changhai Pain Scale to assess patients’ pain intensity increased significantly after the PEP, and the increased usage of the assessment tool between experimental and control groups also shows a statistical difference in trend (χ²=93.281, P < 0.001). The PEP has been demonstrated to be effective in improving nurses’ pain knowledge, attitudes, and assessment.     

Postoperative pain 2: patient education, assessment and management

Postoperative pain is poorly managed, with up to 67% of patients in the U.K. experiencing unnecessary moderate to severe pain. Part 1 of this two part series explored physiological mechanisms involved in the perception of pain and the role of psychological and environmental influences on how patients respond to it. This second part explores the principles of patient assessment and management of postoperative pain, and discusses acute pain analgesic guides.     

Assessment of nurses' continuing education needs in Jordan.

This study assessed the learning needs of hospital nurses in northern Jordan to develop programming recommendations for future continuing education (CE) efforts. Although few CE programs exist, a response rate of 85% (n = 171) suggested these nurses have important learning needs. Nurses identified eight priority content areas: critical care, management of cardiac arrest, emergency room nursing, delegation and accountability, power and authority, teaching innovations, seminar management, and patient education. The findings showed that almost two thirds of subjects (n = 110) had not attended a CE program in the previous year, and very few (n = 8) had read nursing journals to supplement their nursing knowledge. Although data suggested lack of motivation to participate in CE programs was a frequent problem, they also indicated CE participation would increase if participants could earn some type of credit for this additional education.     

The impact of osteoporosis continuing education on nurses' knowledge and attitudes

BACKGROUND: Osteoporosis has rapidly evolved into a severe health threat to Americans and a major public health problem. The increasing incidence of this disease and related fractures mandates that continuing education include osteoporosis content to ensure nurses provide competent education and care. An osteoporosis educational program was presented to nurses as part of a continuing education symposium on women's health issues. The program was tested to determine its effectiveness in augmenting the osteoporosis-related knowledge and attitudes of nurses. METHOD: Eighty-one RNs with educational levels varying from associate degrees to doctorates attended the continuing education program. Sixty-three of the program participants completed pretest and posttest measures. FINDINGS: The educational program significantly increased osteoporosis knowledge in this cohort of nurses. Additionally, nurses indicated they were more likely to pay attention to their own bone health as a result of attending the program. CONCLUSION: Results of this study reinforce the need for osteoporosis-related continuing education.     

Registered nurses' and student nurses' assessment of pain and distress related to specific patient and nurse characteristics

Previous studies examining the influence of patient and nurse characteristics on assessments of pain and distress are not consistent in their results. Few studies have focused on the influence of nurses' personality factors on the assessment of pain and distress. The aims of this study were to compare registered nurses' and student nurses' assessments of patients' pain and distress and to identify if the assessment relate to specific patient and nurse characteristics. Seventy-one registered nurses and 184 student nurses assessed pain and distress in three hypothetical cases and responded to personality factors scales. The assessments of pain and distress regarding the patients showed significant differences. The respondents were divided into two groups, respectively, for each patient according to whether the patient's experiences of pain and distress were assessed as more or less intense. Both the groups of registered nurses and student nurses showed significantly differences on personality factors. The groups of student nurses also differed on nursing experience. Patients' age, and type and stage of illness, personality factors, and nursing experience influenced the respondents' assessments. These findings can be used to help educators in nursing to develop strategies to improve skills and knowledge in the assessment at pain and distress.