Immunization update: a community-based nursing education program

Nurses play key roles as advocates, educators, and researchers to eliminate barriers to access as well as educate the public on the importance of vaccines for children in the United States.

Fifty-four nurses attending a community-based immunization program completed a pretest questionnaire which included identification of related practice behaviors and general knowledge questions. Twenty-four responded to a similar posttest survey 6 months later. The investigators compared knowledge pretest and posttest scores with a t test. Behavioral changes were compared between the pretest and posttest group by analyzing the percentage of change between the time period.

The mean score in the knowledge section increased significantly from a pretest mean of 52% to 75% during the posttest period (p < 005). Behavior change was not statistically significant because of the low number of posttest responses indicating actual immunization practices in the clinical setting. The investigators analyzed trends in practice by comparing percentages of responses.

These findings suggest that a multifaceted, community-based nursing continuing education program including both local, ethnic community perspectives and information related to the latest standards of practice can impact knowledge levels and some practice behaviors.