Abstract WP40: Improving Novices Stroke Nurses’ Education To Improve Patient Outcomes

Abstract

Problem: Stroke care is a lifelong chronic disease process that is constantly evolving for patients and the hospitals that care for them. Today's evidence-based care of stroke patients is time-sensitive and time-intensive for the registered nurse (RN). With the growing incidence of stroke, there is an emerging need for nurses’ education and timely bedside assessment. Eighty percent of strokes are preventable through risk factor management, and twenty percent of stroke patients will have a recurrence. Nurses are primarily responsible for providing this education. However, new stroke nurses in the Emergency Room or on the stroke unit may not have this foundation of knowledge or know the current evidence-based practice, which is often not taught in school. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate nursing knowledge and performance at baseline, post education intervention, and again two months after implementation to determine if providing several different education techniques improves knowledge, performance, and retention during a quality improvement project. EBP Questions: RQ1: Is there a significant difference between stroke knowledge test scores before, immediately after, and two months after receiving an evidence based educational intervention. • RQ2: Is there a significant difference in stroke code simulation scores before, immediately after, and two months after receiving an evidence based educational intervention. • RQ3: Is there a correlation between nurse’s stroke code simulation scores at two months and their years of experience as a nurse? Methods: A quasi-experimental design will be used to compare the knowledge novice stroke nurses at baseline. Again, after a four-hour lecture. Finally, after simulation they will again be tested for knowledge. Outcome: The expected outcome is that staff knowledge will increase with each simulation. As the nurses continue to learn and practice, they should increase awareness of stroke signs and symptoms for patients arriving in the emergency room through triage or EMS. Significance: This study will contribute to evidence-based research to determine if multi-faceted education techniques are best when training novice nurses to new time sensitive processes in this critical access hospitals.