Perceptions of Staff Nurses' Perinatal Continuing Education Needs

Abstract

The objective of continuing nursing education is competence and, ultimately, safe, effective patient care. To meet this objective, program planners must be aware of the continuing education needs of the nurses for whom their programs are designed. The importance of needs assessment that involves input from a number of sources is acknowledged. (American Nurses' Association, 1974; Knowles, 1980). There is, as a result, a potential for discrepancies among the needs that are identified by different groups (Bell, 1978; Griffith, 1978). The consequences of this possibility increase in importance when one considers that, in continuing nursing education, programs are often based on the needs that are identified by supervisors and advisory committees, and not by the staff nurses for whom they are intended. Not only are learners more conscientious and enthusiastic if they perceive that their needs are being met, but "readiness and willingness to participate in a learning situation is directly related to what they (learners) perceive as an interest or need" (Puetz & Peters, 1981, p. 5).