ABSTRACT
Objectives@#Nursing has embraced online education to increase its workforce while providing flexible advanced education to nurse professionals. Faculty use virtual simulation and other adaptive learning technologies to enhance learning efficiency and student outcomes in online courses. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of simulated Electronic Health Records (EHRs) on informatics competency in a graduate online informatics course. @*Methods@#A two-group independent measures study design was adopted to assess students’ perception of a simulated EHR while comparing differences in informatics competencies between an intervention group and a control group. A simulated EHR assignment was provided to students in the intervention group, and a paper assignment was provided to those in the control group. The informatics competency of the students was measured using the Self-Assessment of Informatics Competency Scale for Health Professionals (SICS). @*Results@#Students who were enrolled in a family nurse practitioner program in fall of 2019 participated in this study (n = 39). The students expressed positive perceptions of a simulated EHR experience. The SICS results indicated that students in the intervention (simulated EHR) group showed higher informatics competency than those in the control group. @*Conclusions@#The positive results of this study support incorporating simulated EHR exercises in online courses. Higher informatics competency in the intervention group implies that the use of simulated EHR facilitated learning of complicated informatics concepts.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: This study aimed to develop and evaluate a nursing educational program improving nursing professional's cultural competency in cancer prevention. METHODS: An eight-hour long educational program was developed based on several preliminary research projects, one ethnography and three quantitative projects, to identify the educational needs among nursing students and professionals in Korea. Thirty two nursing professionals were recruited for a one group pretest-posttest design. Three questionnaires were used to measure cultural nursing knowledge about cancer prevention, cultural competency and perceived importance of nurses' quality. RESULTS: After completing the educational program, the clinical nurses showed a significant change in the mean score of the cultural nursing knowledge about cancer prevention from 4.78±2.01 to 8.81±1.52 (t=-8.48, p<.001) and the level of the cultural competency from 72.47±8.96 to 83.59±8.61 (t=-6.16, p<.001). Clinical nurses' perception of 'Communication ability with patients and family members' changed from 6th to 2nd most importance but 'Having a passion for the patient care' remained the most important perceived factor of nurses' quality after completing the educational program. CONCLUSION: The educational program developed was effective in improving nursing professional's cultural competency in cancer prevention. However, it needs to be improved more to be culturally specific to multi-cultural clients.