Effects of situational simulation and online first-aid training programs for nurses in general medical wards: A prospective study.

BACKGROUND

To maintain patient safety, effective first-aid skills are necessary during emergencies. It is important to develop in-service education programs to equip clinical nurses with first-aid skills.

OBJECTIVES

This study explored the effects of first-aid skills and knowledge between situational simulation training and online teaching. It also examined the different effects of two training programs associated with nurses' baseline first-aid ability.

DESIGN

This was a randomized, single-blind controlled study.

SETTING

The study was conducted from December 15, 2016 to May 28, 2018, in the nursing department of a medical center in Taiwan.

PARTICIPANTS

Participants were 92 general ward nurses.

METHODS

Participants were randomly assigned to either a situational simulation training or an online teaching group. We used a first-aid knowledge test (FAKT) and a first-aid skills test (FAST) to measure the participants' learning outcomes after intervention and we did cost comparisons between groups.

RESULTS

There were no significant differences in the changes in FAKT and FAST scores after intervention between situational simulation training and online teaching groups (p = 0.76, p = 0.45). All the participants in both training programs showed improvements via increased scores on FAST (M ± SD = 35.27 ± 12.08 for online teaching, M ± SD = 36.08 ± 10.78 for situational simulation training) and FAKT (M ± SD = 21.09 ± 18.59 for online teaching, M ± SD = 23.39 ± 15.36 for situational simulation training). However, for the subgroup of participants who scored <75% on the FAST pretest, better improvements only occurred in the situational simulation training, but the situational simulation training program had higher costs than the online teaching program.

CONCLUSIONS

The improvement was greater in the situational simulation training group among nurses who could not exceed scores of 75% for first-aid skills. First-aid skill scores below 75% are likely a sign of nurses who need more assistance, discussion, and debriefing from situational simulation training.