IMPACT OF MANDATORY CONTINUING EDUCATION ON NURSING PRACTICE AS PERCEIVED BY REGISTERED NURSES IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA (HEALTH).
Contributors: University of San Francisco.
Published: 1986
Number of pages: 153
Subjects: Education, Health.; Health Sciences, Nursing.; Education, Adult and Continuing.
Description: The intent of this exploratory study was to elicit the perceptions of registered nurses in two rural counties in Northern California regarding the impact that mandatory continuing education (CE) has had on nursing practice. Major research questions asked were nurse perception of the quality of CE offerings, any changes noted in personal or general practice due to CE, and the effectiveness of the present system of mandation in assuring currency of knowledge. Additional questions addressed were how nurses selected their CE activities, if they would have participated had it been on a voluntary basis, was there systematic variation in the responses to content due to demographic and professional characteristics, and were there any higher order relationships among the systematic variations.

The method used was exploratory and designed as a timebound, cross-sectional survey. The data base was obtained through a questionnaire mailed to a randomly selected group of nurses in two rural counties. From a total population of 868 nurses, a sample of 265 was drawn. A panel of experts examined the instrument for content validity, it was field tested for bias and interpretation, and its reliability confirmed by the test-retest method. The response rate to the questionnaire was 79 percent.

The findings showed the typical respondent to be a married female, medical-surgical nurse with 6-10 years practice. A majority of those surveyed perceived CE offerings to be of high quality and that it had impacted both individual and general practice in functional areas of direct patient care. Improvement of professional skills and knowledge was given as the reason for attending classes by 97% rather than that of fulfilling required hours. There were a few statistically significant sources of variation but analysis failed to establish higher order relationships.

Conclusions reached were that these nurses perceived the intent of legislated mandation (currency of skill and knowledge) accomplished, implementation by the Board of Registered Nursing acceptable, practice affected positively, and offerings of good quality but needing the inclusion of supervised clinical practice. Relationships between demographic and professional characteristics and content responses were not established.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-06, Section: A, page: 2034.

Thesis (ED.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO, 1986.

School code: 6019.