Description and evaluation of a course for practice nurses.

There is increasing awareness of the needs of practice nurses for continuing education and both the report of the community nursing review and the government's white paper Promoting better health have stressed this. A course for practice nurses is described in which the curriculum was based on previous research into their requirements. An evaluation of the course demonstrated changes in the attitude towards the work of the practitioner and an overall increase in confidence of the group. Perceptions of the course and the relevance of the content were also measured. The cost of the course is given and the future direction of training discussed.