Continuing Education and the Quality of Health Care: Meaningful Learning in Nursing Practice

The objective of this article is to analyze continuing education in nursing practice. There is concern nowadays about the changes introduced in the structure of teaching and the application of active methods to train health care professionals. The everyday aspects of nursing practice are examined, as is the way technological-scientific information now is being supplied to practicing nurses in hospitals, so as to enrich nursing care through continuing education. The transformative practices applied by nurse caregivers are described as an element that facilitates the teaching-learning process. There is a wide-ranging review of computer databases. Consequently, the choice of texts is based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, giving rise to 50 scientific articles. Recent years have seen the introduction of continuing education as a method in the field of health, having become an indispensable feature in practices for training, care, management, the development of public policy and social control. What has emerged is the concept of total care, with know-how and practices having been transformed and included in the real environment of those for whom they are intended. In conclusion, it is the motivation to continually up-date the professional practice of the nursing staff that provides for the application of an interdisciplinary instrument of solubility that makes actions more visible to clients and their families.