title: HOW MANY REPETITIONS OF CHILD CARE SKILLS ARE REQUIRED FOR HEALTH WORKER STUDENTS TO ACHIEVE PROFICIENCY? LEARNING CURVE PATTERNS IN CHILD CARE SKILLS ACQUISITION.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The vulnerability of children under 5 years old requires paying more attention to the health of this group. In the Iranian health care system, health workers are the first line of human resources for health care in rural areas. Because most health workers begin working in conditions with minimal facilities, their clinical qualifications are crucial. The aim of this study was to determine the number of repetitions of child care skills, required for health worker students to achieve proficiency based on the learning curve.
  
  
  METHODS
  A time series research design was used. Participants in this study were first year health worker students enrolled in three health schools in 2011. Data were collected using a questionnaire consisting of demographic information and a checklist evaluating the health worker students' clinical skills proficiency for child care. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 16.0 software (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL) using descriptive and inferential statistics including Kruskal-Wallis and Pearson correlation coefficient tests.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Learning curve patterns in child care skills acquisition showed that for less than 20 and between 20 to 29 times, the level of skill acquisition had an upward slope. Between 30- 39 the learning curve was descending, however the slope became ascending once more and then it leveled off (with change of less than 5%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It seems that 40 repetitions of child care skills are sufficient for health worker students to achieve proficiency. This suggests that time, resources and additional costs for training health worker students' trainees can be saved by this level of repetition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Zahra Emami
authors.initials: ZE
authors.lastname: Moghadam
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran ; School of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Emami Zeydi
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical-Surgical Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed Reza
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Mazlom
authors.affiliation: Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences, Sabzevar, Iran.
authors.forename: Fatemeh Sardar
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Abadi
authors.affiliation: Nosocomial Infection Research Center, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran.
authors.forename: Parastoo Majidi
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Pour
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran.
authors.forename: Malihe
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Davoudi
authors.affiliation: Department of Midwifery, Gonabad University of Medical sciences, Gonabad, Iran.
authors.forename: Elahe
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Banafsheh
keywords: Child Care; Clinical Skills; Health Worker; Learning Curve