Learning effectiveness of nurses caring for patients with pulmonary artery catheters using e-learning and simulation approaches

Abstract

Background: There has not been a systematic training program developed for pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) care in Taiwan, only the mentor-apprentice learning approach is used. Therefore, it is difficult for nursing personnel to maintain mastery of care.

Methods: This study used single group pretest and posttest and repeated measurements to enroll the ICU nurse practitioners of regional teaching hospitals to perform the pretest, post-test, and repeated measurements, in order to follow-up the long-term learning effectiveness. Before and after the intervention of “Multimedia interactive self-learning disc of Pulmonary Artery Catheter” and “Practical Operation of Scenario Simulation,” this study used the scale on knowledge, attitude, technique inspection, and satisfaction of PAC care to collect data.

Results: The differences in the scores of the posttest and repeated measurements of knowledge and technique inspection of PAC care reached significance (p < .05). The differences in the scores of “Beneficial to the improvement of self-confidence in care” and “I believe that I can provide accurate data for decision-making” of care attitude in the posttest, and those of “During the insertion of pulmonary artery catheter in patients, I will look up the information to look for answers” reached significance (p < .05). The learners were all satisfied.

Conclusion: This study considered the needs of learners, and developed the “self-learning disc” according to the theory. The results showed that the interventions have long-term learning effectiveness on the knowledge, attitude, and technique inspection of PAC care. The research can be provided as reference for the PAC care training.