Enhancing regional perinatal care: a clinical traineeship for perinatal nurses in a predominantly rural area.
This article describes the objectives, content, teaching strategies, and evaluation methods for the Rural Perinatal Traineeship Program (RPTP). The RPTP is a five-day outreach education program sponsored by The Children's Hospital, Denver for perinatal RNs in the Rocky Mountain, western Great Plains region. The program emphasizes nursing assessment, recognition, stabilization, and transport of the high-risk pregnant woman and sick newborn. The goal is to enhance the nursing care of pregnant women and newborns provided by community hospital RNs by increasing knowledge, reviewing equipment, and updating care practices/skills. To assess effectiveness of the RPTP, participants took a pre, post, and follow-up test. Additionally, follow-up questionnaires, which identified changes in care practices and equipment acquisition, were sent at three different intervals to 299 nurses who participated from 1980-89 and their nursing directors. Overall, 105 participants (36 percent) and 110 of the 127 nursing directors (86 percent) responded to the questionnaire. Results from 86 participants who took all three tests indicated an increase in pre- to post-test scores from 76 percent to 89 percent (p < .001). Follow-up test scores averaged 85 percent (p .001). According to the nursing directors, participants suggested changes in 136 care practices, with 77 percent implemented; and 68 pieces of equipment of which 90 percent were acquired. Suggestions from past participants and nursing directors continue to influence the RPTP in the 1990s.
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D003120:Colorado; D004509:Education, Nursing, Continuing; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D017283:Neonatal Nursing / Q000193:education*; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D012424:Rural Population