title: The effect of an e-learning course on nursing staff's knowledge of delirium: a before-and-after study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Delirium is a common condition in hospitalized patients, associated with adverse outcomes such as longer hospital stay, functional decline and higher mortality, as well as higher rates of nursing home placement. Nurses often fail to recognize delirium in hospitalized patients, which might be due to a lack of knowledge of delirium diagnosis and treatment. The objective of the study was to test the effectiveness of an e-learning course on nurses' delirium knowledge, describe nursing staff's baseline knowledge about delirium, and describe demographic factors associated with baseline delirium knowledge and the effectiveness of the e-learning course.
  
  
  METHODS
  A before-and-after study design, using an e-learning course on delirium. The course was introduced to all nursing staff of internal medicine and surgical wards of 17 Dutch hospitals.
  
  
  RESULTS
  1,196 invitations for the e-learning course were sent to nursing staff, which included nurses, nursing students and healthcare assistants. Test scores on the final knowledge test (mean 87.4, 95% CI 86.7 to 88.2) were significantly higher than those on baseline (mean 79.3, 95% CI 78.5 to 80.1). At baseline, nursing staff had the most difficulty with questions related to the definition of delirium: what are its symptoms, course, consequences and which patients are at risk. The mean score for this category was 74.3 (95% CI 73.1 to 75.5).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The e-learning course significantly improved nursing staff's knowledge of delirium in all subgroups of participants and for all question categories. Contrary to other studies, the baseline knowledge assessment showed that, overall, nursing staff was relatively knowledgeable regarding delirium.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  The Netherlands National Trial Register (NTR).
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  NTR 2885 , 19 April 2011.
authors: NIVEL Netherlands institute for health services research, Utrecht, the Netherlands. l.vandesteeg@nivel.nl.
authors: Lotte
authors: L
authors: van de Steeg
authors: NIVEL Netherlands institute for health services research, Utrecht, the Netherlands. r.ijkema@gmail.com.|Present affiliation: Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. r.ijkema@gmail.com.
authors: Roelie
authors: R
authors: IJkema
authors: NIVEL Netherlands institute for health services research, Utrecht, the Netherlands. c.wagner@nivel.nl.|EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. c.wagner@nivel.nl.
authors: Cordula
authors: C
authors: Wagner
authors: NIVEL Netherlands institute for health services research, Utrecht, the Netherlands. m.langelaan@nivel.nl.
authors: Maaike
authors: M
authors: Langelaan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003162:Competency-Based Education; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction; D003693:Delirium / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy; D004506:Education, Nursing; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education*
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