A quantitative pilot study evaluating the effectiveness of a venepuncture and cannulation study day

SummaryContinuing education for nurses is an expensive commodity. In order to justify its expense employers must experience tangible benefits to nursing practice. This paper describes a quantitative study carried out in an in-service training organisation in Northern Ireland. The aim of this study was to pilot a tool, which considered factors associated with successful completion of the record of practice documentation following training in peripheral intravenous cannulation. The questionnaire was sent to all course participants for a single year (n = 344). The response rate of was 28% (n = 97). Seventy two percent of nurses successfully cannulated on at least five occasions with most completing the record of practice form within one month. There were no significant differences found between nursing grades in relation to the time taken to complete the record of practice document (p = 0.395, Kruskal–Wallis, χ2 = 1.860, df = 2). There was highly statistically significant correlation found in relation to highest academic grade and the time taken to complete the record of practice (p < 0.001, r = 0.121) as illustrated in Fig. 3. However, the strength of the relationship was weak as the two variables only shared 1.4% of their variation in common. The difference between the grades achieved by hospital and community nurses in time taken to complete the record of practice was statistically significant (p = 0.003, Mann Whitney U = 470.000, Z = −3.023) with hospital nurses more likely to complete their supervised practice and to do so more quickly.