The effectiveness of an education program on nurses' knowledge of electrocardiogram interpretation

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a continuing education program on nurses' knowledge of interpretation of 12-lead electrocardiograms (ECGs).

The study used a quasi-experimental design. Fifty-two nurses, including 23 nurses working in an emergency department, 12 nurses working in a cardiology department and 17 nurses working in an intensive care unit (ICU) were recruited for the study. Two learning methods were used: a lecture-based education program and a self-learning handbook. The effectiveness of the methods was evaluated using a questionnaire containing questions in five domains.

Data analysis showed that before training, nurses who worked in the cardiology department scored higher in basic ECG knowledge than those in the emergency department and ICU; test scores of nurses who had worked for 2-10 years were higher than else. The post-test total and domain scores at 2 weeks, and 4 months after the lecture-based learning and 1 month after a self-learning ECG handbook was presented were higher than the pretest scores.

Prior to training, ECG knowledge differed with respect to the nurses' different demographic characteristics. The lecture-based education program and self-learning handbook material were effective in improving the nurses' ECG knowledge.