title: Management of continuing education of nurse midwives by chief nurses in community hospitals in southern Thailand.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the levels of continuing education management in hospitals according to their size, and to investigate problems in the management of continuing education of nurse midwives by chief nurses in community hospitals.
  
  
  METHODS
  The target population was 128 chief nurses, 103 of whom (80.47%) returned the questionnaires. Data were collected using a questionnaire that had been tested for its content validity by three experts (content validity index was .80 and the Cronbach's alpha was .83). Descriptive statistics and ANOVA were used to investigate if differences existed among groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean score of the level of continuing education management in nurse midwives for the chief nurses was low. The levels of education management for chief nurses according to hospital size (10-bed, 30-bed, and 60-bed hospitals) were not significantly different (p > .05). The problems for chief nurses in the management of continuing education in nurse midwives in the community hospitals were: lack of manpower (70%); financial problems (45%); lack of lecturers in advanced nurse midwifery (38%); insufficient number of courses in advanced nurse midwifery (29%); length of time for study leave taken for training (21%); and safety problems in the unrest areas in the southern provinces (21%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The levels of continuing education management by chief nurses in all the community hospitals were low, primarily due to a lack of manpower and budgetary constraints. Therefore, the Nursing Council of Thailand should provide training and funds to support advanced nurse midwifery education programs in all parts of the country.
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Faculty of Nursing, Prince of Songkla University, Songkla, Thailand.
authors.forename: Phechnoy
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Singchungchai
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Faculty of Nursing, Prince of Songkla University, Songkla, Thailand.
authors.forename: Thitiporn
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ingkathawornwong
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Faculty of Nursing, Prince of Songkla University, Songkla, Thailand.
authors.forename: Suriporn
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kritcharoen
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Faculty of Nursing, Prince of Songkla University, Songkla, Thailand.
authors.forename: Thanomsri
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Inthanon
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Faculty of Nursing, Prince of Songkla University, Songkla, Thailand.
authors.forename: Sawitri
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Limchai-Arunreung
authors.affiliation: Lecturer, Faculty of Nursing, Prince of Songkla University, Songkla, Thailand.
authors.forename: Udom
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Phanthong