The Opinions of Specialist Nurses about the Educational Programme for Nursing Specialties of Northern Greece

Evaluation is the immediate follow-up to every educational programme. It is a process of assessing the quality of the education provided, and the degree to which the course goals have been met. Aim: The evaluation of the educational programmes of nursing specialties of Northern Greece, according to the opinions of the specialized nurses who completed the course since the beginning of its application (1991 - 2004). Method: A self-completed questionnaire was distributed to the 559 nurses who attended the specialist nursing programme since its establishment in 1991 up to 2004, and 447 completed questionnaires were returned. The answers, which concerned nurses’ evaluation of the training programme and the extent to which their training was subsequently utilized by health services, were analyzed according to the specialty (pathology, surgery, psychology and paediatric) and the hospital offering the training programme. Results: Current and new knowledge was perceived to have been gained to a satisfactory level. Nurses were more positive about the theoretical part of their training than the clinical practice. The nurses who followed the psychiatric specialty more rarely reported a sense of waste time in clinical practice than those in the other specialties (p< 0.001). The mean scores for satisfaction with the training in history taking and nursing procedure, coping with emergencies, care in acute and chronic diseases ranged from 2.38 to 3.03 (0=not at all, 4=very much). Research methodology, teaching skills and prevention were rated below 2. Implementation of the acquired knowledge was evaluated as adequate only in coping with emergencies, and care in acute and chronic diseases. Statistically significant differences in favour of the adequacy of specialty training in surgery were observed for the most of the training issues. Conclusions: The training of nurses through participating in specialty programme, although perceived by the nurses themselves as adequate, was not subsequently utilized effectively in their workplace, and consequently it appears that time and money invested by the Ministry of Health and the hospitals did not bring the expected results. The perceived gaps in training issues and the differences between specialties lead to the idea that a unified training programme, with a unique training institute would be of added value.

Category: Volume 48, N 4
Hits: 510 Hits
Created Date: 15-12-2009
Authors: Fedra Ioannidou , Ioanna Skenderi , Apostolos Efkarpidis , Niki Kavaka , Alice Dimitriadou , Alexis Benos