Background & Aims

Starting a new pain service at a tertiary-level hospital is challenging however those challenges turn into productive opportunities through positive teamwork and leadership. In a newly opened tertiary care hospital, where new nursing staff was recruited from all over the globe with different levels of skills set, there was an emerging need to standardize nursing care and competencies for managing patient’s who are on modalities of either patient-controlled Analgesia (PCA) or epidural. As part of standardizing nursing competencies, a structured training course was designed according to JCIA(1) competency targets and in alignment with local internal policies. Course consisted of introductory lectures followed by simulation-based hands-on training workshops. We measured effectiveness of this course by qualitative analysis of self-reported data from participants before and after the course as well as by conducting a competency-based check off test using various methods of evaluations.

Methods

To evaluate efficacy of educational intervention for improving nurses’ confidence and competence, we used a standardized 5-point Likert scale questionnaire where participants rated their level of confidence (with 1 being least confident and 5 being most confident) in dealing with various components related to Epidural and PCA care before and after the course. We collected qualitative data from 118 nurses from courses conducted in 2023.To maximize response rate before and after the course, questionnaire submission was linked with course attendance and delivery of course completion certificate through a QR code. All participants underwent a structured competency-based check off test at the end to further evaluate effectiveness of educational intervention.

Results

Before attending the course 75% of participants (n 87) rated themselves to be underconfident for managing patients with epidural (self-rating between 1-3) whereas after attending the course 88% of participants (n 104) scored themselves between 4-5. For patient-controlled analgesia overall management, self-rating score of 4-5 moved from mere 28% (n33) before the course to 93%(n110) after the course . In both PCA and epidural, total of 11 self-rating Likert scale questions were asked, out of which in 10 areas there was more than 80 % improvement in nursing self-rating management. However, improvement in sensory level assessment competence after the course was comparatively low with 58% (n68) scoring between 4-5) after the course. Out of 118 participants who took competency-based check off, 103 ( 88%) passed in first attempt, whereas 15 candidates had to re do the check off.

Conclusions

Structuring and aligning the educational intervention with organization target goal standards and internal policies helps achieve the goal of standardizing the nursing knowledge, confidence and competence in managing patients on epidural and PCA. Evaluating the effectiveness of educational intervention by combination of self-rating and competency-based tools help the trainers to constantly evolve their training and education in light of feedback from these tools.

References

https://www.jointcommissioninternational.org/-/media/jci/jci-documents/accreditation/hospital-and-amc/jci-errata-standards-only_7th-ed-hospital.pdf

Presenting Author

Usman Bashir

Poster Authors

Usman Bashir

OTHR

King Faisal specilaist hospital and research centre , Saudi Arabia.

Lead Author

Sumiah Almutairi

King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center

Lead Author

Dalal Tahous Aldhafeeri

King Faisal Specialist Hospital and research Centre

Lead Author

Topics

  • Education