title: Continuing education for nurses in Tianjin Municipality, the People's Republic of China.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A descriptive survey examined continuing education experiences of hospital nurses working in Tianjin Municipality, the third largest municipality in The People's Republic of China.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fourteen hospitals and two hundred nurses were selected randomly.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over two thirds of the nurses had attended continuing education events in the previous few years. Learning experiences included on-site and off-site workshops; associate degree courses; and teaching strategies of mostly lectures, films and videos. Major barriers discouraging nurses from participating included lack of time, cost, distance, and being denied permission to attend. Nurses working in rural and suburban hospitals reported less access to continuing education opportunities than nurses in urban hospitals. Ninety-six percent of respondents reported they had made changes in their clinical practice as a result of the continuing education activities.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Strategies to reduce barriers to continuing education and future research examining the impact of continuing nursing education on clinical practice in China need to be developed.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.forename: Z D
authors.initials: ZD
authors.lastname: Hui
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Xin
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002681:China; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards; D004509:Education, Nursing, Continuing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006780:Hospitals, Rural; D006786:Hospitals, Urban; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training / Q000458:organization & administration*; D020380:Needs Assessment / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology*; D020377:Self Efficacy; D019036:Suburban Health Services; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires