title: Critical care nurses' perceptions of their educational needs.
abstract: A survey of nurses working in critical care units in 89 Queensland hospitals was conducted to investigate their perceptions of critical care nurses' educational needs. Two thirds of the 62 respondents were from rural units and one third were from metropolitan units. Most respondents, irrespective of geographic location, wanted critical care education to be located in hospitals and to be accredited as a graduate diploma course. Rural and metropolitan nurses had similar educational needs and many worked for hospitals that were not offering adequate orientation or inservice critical care education. The findings that nursing staff turnover was a problem in metropolitan units and that the rural workforce was more stable have implications for the development of educational programs.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Nursing and Health Sciences, Griffith University.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chaboyer
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Theobald
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pocock
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Friel
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003422:Critical Care; D004509:Education, Nursing, Continuing; D006801:Humans; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology*; D011793:Queensland; D012423:Rural Health; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014504:Urban Health