Effectiveness of a computer-based learning module on arterial blood gas interpretation among staff nurses in critical care units

Abstract

Continuous education and updating knowledge and skills for nurses is very important, because they working in diE™erent shifts, do not have the opportunity to participate in face-to-face teach-ing sessions; self-educating methods are is very useful for them. Online, computer-based learning has emerged as an alternative means of providing continuing education to nurses. The aim of this study was to assess the eE™ect of online-learning module on nurses’ knowledge and practice regard-ing Arterial Blood Gas (ABG) interpretation in critical care units. Design: A quasi-experimental design was utilized in the conduction of this study. Setting: the study was carried out in the respira-tory ICU and coronary care unit aA?liated to Ain Shams University Hospitals. Sample: a purpo-sive sample of (60) staE™ nurses. Tools: data were collected through three tools; 1. Nurses’ self- administered questionnaire; it included two parts: A. characteristics of the studied Nurses, B. Nurses’ knowledge assessment tool to assess the level of nurses’ knowledge regarding ABG inter-pretation. 2. Nurses’ practice checklist to assess nurses’ level of practice regarding ABG interpre-tation; both tools used pre and post implementa-tion of the online-learning module 3. Nurses’ satisfaction questionnaire to assess the level of nurses’ satisfaction regarding Arterial Blood Gas (ABG) interpretation post implementing online learning module. Results howed that there were a highly statistically signii¬cant diE™erence of nurses’ level of knowledge and nurses’ level of practice before and after implementation of online-learning module (X2 = 53.333; 58.800) re-spectively at p. <0.001. The results also re-vealed that there was a positive correlation asso-ciation between nurses’ total satisfactory level of knowledge and total satisfactory level of practice pre and post implementation of online-learning module (r = 0.566, 0.809) respectively. Conclu-sions: The level of nurses’ knowledge and level of nurses’ practice regarding Arterial Blood Gas (ABG) interpretation increased signii¬cantly after implementing the online-learning module. Rec-ommendations: The study can be replicated on a large sample to generalize i¬ndings. Incorporat-ing online-learning module related to ABG inter-pretation into the continuing professional devel-opment courses for critical care nurses is recom-mended.