P-49 Perceptions of Registered Nurses at the public hospital and selected health centers regarding the mandatory continuous nursing education.
Author(s):
A Jones, N Dass-Sutton, S Amin, N Holder, R Kurup
Year of Presentation:
2024
Objective: To identify registered nurse’s perceptions regarding mandatory continuous nursing education (MCNE) as well as to identify the nurse’s challenges and factors pertaining to MCNE.
Methods: The investigation was carried out during May and June of 2023 at the public hospital and three selected health centers. For this research a simple random sampling technique was used to collect data. A total of 260 nurses participated in the quantitative study and eight nurses participated in the focus group discussion. The data from the focus group was later compiled for themes and codes. A mixed method approach was used for this study.
Results: The majority of nurses (87%) believed that CNEs would be beneficial to them individually, and 82.7% agreed that CNEs would improve the standard of healthcare delivery at various institutions. Only 25.4% of nurses argued that Guyana is not ready for such a mandate, while 63.4% of nurses overall believed professional development should be mandatory. Furthermore, 45.4% of participants stated that would require too much time to attend CNE seminars, while 47.3% of participants said their biggest challenge would be the seminars' physical location.
The following themes and sub-themes emerged from the interview for the qualitative portion of the study: 1) Perceived challenges of the newly mandated CNE mandate: Nurses' general concerns and psychological stress; 2) and CNEs' benefits: CNE’s will enhance the standard of health care delivery.\
Conclusion: Despite challenges, nurses remained optimistic about pursuing CNE. However, Guyana should dedicate greater emphasis to promote the development of MCNE.