Continuing education: are conferences and workshops the link for hospital employed nurses?

The purpose of this paper is to describe the results of a questionnaire which indicated that hospital employed Registered Nurses (RNs) in the Southern Ontario areas of Hamilton and Toronto (Canada) demonstrated greater interest in attending conferences and workshops, than in any other continuing educational activities over the previous 3 years. The continuing education activities that were evaluated were: upgrading courses offered by colleges; credit courses provided by universities; in-service education presented at hospitals; reading professional journals; as well as attendance at conferences and workshops. The section of the questionnaire presented in this report explored whether any relationships exist between age, marital status, parental status and RNs participation in conferences and workshops. The questionnaires also explored whether the formal education at the time of the initial registration as an RN, and the number of years employed as an RN influenced RNs participation in the two continuing educational activities (conferences and workshops). Concerns or barriers to continuing education as identified by the RNs were also surveyed.