The Need for Mandatory Mental Health Continuing Education among Registered Nurses
Abstract:
Continuing medical education is integral
to lifelong learning and constitutes a vital aspect of keeping registered nurses’
knowledge and skills up to date. This supports best practices and the effectiveness
of any interventions. Therefore, the aim of this study
was to explore
the need for mandatory mental health continuing education for practicing registered
nurses. This was a descriptive cross-sectional
quantitative study
with a sample size of 27 registered nurses
working in Health care settings in the Cayman Islands. These participants were selected
using non-probability sampling technique. Convenience sampling was the chosen method.
A 25 items Questionnaire was used to collect the data. Closed-ended questions, and
a Likert scale were used to collect the demographic data and to measure the nurses’
perceptions
of the need for the intervention under study. Analysis
of the data was accomplished with Microsoft Excel. Descriptive statistics were generated. The
results revealed that only a few registered
nurses were extremely confident (7.40%) or quite confident (37.0 4%) in their ability
to manage the care of patients with mental illnesses. The majority (88.89%) of nurses
believed that there is a need for continuous medical education in mental health
topics and that it should be mandatory (92%) for registered nurses. They believe
and that this will make them more confident in their delivery of care to patients
with underlying mental illnesses. Hence, it can be concluded that continuing education
in this aspect of nursing will be beneficial for both them and the patients they
care for.
Keywords:
Continuing education, Mental
health, Mental illnesses, Nurses, Patients, Training.
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