Abstract
Aim. This study aimed to examine the effect of participation-based education program on nurses' knowledge and practice of critical care nurses about central venous catheter care in intensive care units in teaching hospitals of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Iran.
Background. Improving the quality care of central venous catheters requires the promotion of nurses’ knowledge of standard guidelines and manuals of catheter care and also the knowledge of latest findings in this field.
Method. In this quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest design, 46 nurses working in intense care unit of two teaching hospitals (Ayatollah Mousavi and Vali-e-Asr hospital) were recruited into experimental group (n=28) and control group (n=18). Before intervention, nurses' knowledge and performance regarding central venous catheter care were measured by the questionnaire developed by Labio et al. in 2008 and a researcher-made observational checklist. Then, educational intervention based on participation was implemented for the experimental group for 1 month, and routine intervention (taking part in one session lecture) was also carried out for the control group. Three months after intervention, nurses' knowledge and performance were measured again through questionnaire and checklist by the co-researcher. Data were analyzed by SPSS (version 16) utilizing Chi-square, Fisher, ANOVA, and independent t-test and paired-sample t- test.
Findings. After intervention, there was a statistically significant difference between experimental and control group in mean change of knowledge score (experimental group, 2.82 against control group, 1.67)(p=0.004) and performance score (experimental group, 11.69 against control group, 10.85) (p≤0.0001) about central venous catheter care.
Conclusion. Educational intervention based on participation is more effective than the other conventional retraining programs in improving the nurses' knowledge and performance about central venous catheter care. It is suggested to apply participation-based education program for in-service training.