The effectiveness of an education program on nurses' knowledge of electrocardiogram interpretation

Objectives: The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a continuing education program on nurses' knowledge of interpretation of 12-lead electrocardiograms (ECGs). Methods: The study used a quasi-experimental design. Fifty-two nurses, including 23 nurses working in an emergency department, 12 nurses working in a cardiology department and 17 nurses working in an intensive care unit (ICU) were recruited for the study. Two learning methods were used: a lecture-based education program and a self-learning handbook. The effectiveness of the methods was evaluated using a questionnaire containing questions in five domains. Results: Data analysis showed that before training, nurses who worked in the cardiology department scored higher in basic ECG knowledge than those in the emergency department and ICU; test scores of nurses who had worked for 2-10 years were higher than else. The post-test total and domain scores at 2 weeks, and 4 months after the lecture-based learning and 1 month after a self-learning ECG handbook was presented were higher than the pretest scores. Conclusions: Prior to training, ECG knowledge differed with respect to the nurses' different demographic characteristics. The lecture-based education program and self-learning handbook material were effective in improving the nurses' ECG knowledge. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.