Continuing Education Preferences, Facilitators, and Barriers for Nursing Home Nurses

Background: The purpose of the study was to determine the continuing education needs for nursing home nurses in rural central Illinois and to determine any potential facilitators or barriers to obtaining continuing education. Method: Data were collected using the Educational Needs Assessment questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were computed to examine continuing education preferences, facilitators, and barriers among nursing home nurses. Independent samples t tests were used to compare preferences between administrative and staff nurses. Results: The sample included 317 nurses from 34 facilities. The five top needs were related to clinical problems. Administrative nurses had greater needs for professional issues, managerial skills, and quality improvement than staff nurses. Barriers included rural settings, need for vacation time for programs, and inadequate staffing. Conclusion: Continuing education needs of nursing home nurses in Illinois are similar to previous studies conducted in Arizona and North Carolina. Continuing education barriers were mostly organizational, rather than personal.