Capacity Building Programme on Diagnostic and Interventional Cardiology for Registered Nurses through Virtual Mode – Society of Cardiac Nurses-Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes Collaborative Model

Abstract

Abstract Background: Incorporating virtual modes of continuing education programmes for registered nurses enable their professional development as it overcomes the twin barriers of lack of time and geographical isolation. Methods: A course on the Diagnostic and Interventional Cardiology-Capacity Building Programme for nurses was planned and implemented amongst registered nurses in India by the Society of Cardiac Nurses and Project Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (SOCN-ECHO) collaborative model. The course curriculum included eight modules, and each module was taken once a week as a 2-h session. It consisted of comprehensive sessions dealt with by subject matter experts, case presentations and case discussions. In this study, 52 registered nurses from all over India were enrolled. The mean pre-test and post-test scores were calculated, and a paired t-test was used for statistical significance. The Chi-square test was used to determine the association between knowledge improvement and the characteristics of participants. Results: The mean age of the participants was 39.2 ± 8.36 years. Females constituted 92% of the participants. The mean year of experience was 12.4 ± 8.18. There was a significant difference between the mean pre-test (13.62 ± 4.52) and the mean post-test scores (19.38 ± 4.19, P < 0.001). Increased duration of experience as a professional nurse showed a significant association with good improvement in post-test scores (P = 0.01). Conclusion: Collaborative education model between professional organisations such as SOCN and Project ECHO was found to be effective in increasing the competency of nurses in specific areas of practice.