impact of continuing education on the acquisition of the nursing process skills in psychiatric nursing practice

ABSTRACT

The study was conducted at Riyadh Mental Health Hospital. It aimed at designing and evaluating the impact of a continuing education unit on the nurses ability to acquire the nursing process akills. The study revealed that nurses were basically deficient in certain aspects of their knowledge. The condition was even worse in nurses with longer experience. The continuing education unit implemented in this study provided sufficient evidence that nurses knowledge and skills have significantly improved. Nurses were able to comprehend processes related to assessment, implementation and evaluation, but encountered difficulty in comprehending the planning process. Such a process, however, represents another area of need for staff development. Implication of the findings were discussed and several recommendations were proposed