176 e-Health – For Continuity of Care

C. Lovis et al. (Eds.)

© 2014 European Federation for Medical Informatics and IOS Press.
This article is published online with Open Access by IOS Press and distributed under the terms
of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License.
doi:10.3233/978-1-61499-432-9-176

Web-Based Training: Readiness and

Perceptions of Nurses
Esra USLUa,1 and Kadriye BULDUKOGLU b and Nese ZAYIMc
a
Department of Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing, Selcuk University Aksehir Kadir
Yallagoz, School of Health, Aksehir, Konya
b
Department of Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing , Akdeniz University, Faculty of
Nursing, Campus, Antalya
c
Department of Biostatistics & Medical Informatics, Akdeniz University, Faculty of
Medicine, Campus, Antalya

Abstract: This study was conducted as a descriptive study in order to determine

the views of nurses working a university hospital on web-based training.
Population consisted of all the nurses working in the hospital. It was found out that
nurses use computer at the moderate level (46.5 %), they benefit from Internet at a
good level (46.5 %), almost all of them use Internet to make searches about
professional issues (94.6%), they want to update their professional knowledge
(90.1%) and they find it difficult to reach information on such grounds as time
constraint (81.1 %) and lack of appropriate environment (62.1 %) and they want to
receive a web-based training (87.1 %). It is important that web-based training
programmes be generalised in the field of nursing where there exists a time
problem, studies as regards to how to integrate these programmes into continuing
education be increased and their results be reflected on the practices.

Keywords: web based training, distance education, nurse

Introduction

Web-based training (WBT) programmes which have become widespread in the health
care education have greatly contributed to the professional development of nurses who
constitute an integral part of the healthcare system [1,2]. The relevant literature [3,4,5]
puts forward that WBT is an interactive training model which does not have time and
space constraints, can be customised, provides reliable information and contributes to
the development of clinical knowledge and skills of nurses. It is important that WBT
programmes forming a part of distance education be developed to create high quality
learning environments for the nursing students, graduates and professionals [5,6]. In
this respect, the aim of the present study is to determine the background knowledge and
views of the nurses working in the University Hospital as regards to the WBT.

1
Esra USLU Fax: +90 332 813 63 68 Telephone number: + 90 332 813 05 72 E-mail
address: esrauslu@akdeniz.edu.tr
 E. Uslu et al. / Web-Based Training: Readiness and Perceptions of Nurses 177

1. Methods

Data used in the research consisted of the data obtained at the first phase of the
master’s thesis. It was a descriptive research where the population consisted of the
nurses (N=250) working in a university hospital. A total of 202 nurses participated in
the research. Ethical approval was received from the ethics board of the university
while the essential legal permission was received from the university hospital. SPSS-11
(Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) statistical package program was used in
the assessment of the data.

2. Results

2.1. Characteristics of Nurses in relation to the Use of Computer and Internet

When the characteristics of nurses in relation to the use of computer and internet are
examined, it is seen that more than half of the nurses (68.3 %) received training on the
use of computer. When the nurses were asked to classify their levels of using computer,
46.5 % of them classified their levels as “moderate” while 46.5 % of them identified
their levels as “good” when they were asked to identify their levels of benefiting from
the internet. Almost all of the nurses (94.6 %) expressed that they use internet for
making searches about professional matters.

2.2. Views as regards to Updating the Professional Knowledge

Almost nurses (90.1 %) expressed that they want to update their professional
knowledge and need updating their professional knowledge mostly in the field of
diseases-medical diagnoses (39.2 %). Nurses’ have difficulty in access to information
and (46.5 %) this difficulty mostly results from time constraints (81.1 %) and lack of
appropriate environment (62.1 %). However, 98 % of the nurses reach the information
they need through internet (Table 1).

Table 1: Characteristics of Nurses in relation to Access to Professional Information

CHARACTERISTICS n %
Those having difficulty in access to information* 94 46.5
Time constraint 77 81.1
Lack of appropriate environment 59 62.1
Lack of source book 36 37.9
Economic obstacles 20 21.1
Those not having difficulty in access to information 108 53.3
Methods of access to information *
Searching through the internet 198 98
Asking the colleague 132 65.3
Consulting a physician 118 58.4
Reading the relevant literature 109 54
* As more than one answer were given to this question, the value of “n” rose.
178 E. Uslu et al. / Web-Based Training: Readiness and Perceptions of Nurses

2.3. Views concerning the WBT

The majority of the nurses (87.1 %) were found to be eager to receive WBT. On the
other hand, 26.9 % of the nurses found it unnecessary to receive WBT.

Table 2: Views of the Nurses in relation to WBT

VIEWS n %
Those who want to receive WBT* 176 87.1
It ensures easy and fast access to professional 53 41.7
information wherever you want.
It helps repeating and renewing the information 52 40.9
as well as personal development.
Nurses are in need of WBT 15 11.8
It contributes nursing. 15 11.8
No answer. 75 37.1
Those who do not want to receive WBT* 26 12.9
Finding it unnecessary 7 26.9
Time constraint 6 23.1
Preferring face-to-face communication 4 15.4
Believing to have the necessary knowledge 2 7.7
No answer. 7 29.9
* As more than one answer were given to this question, the value of “n” rose.

3. Discussion

3.1. Characteristics of the Nurses in relation to the Use of Computer and Internet

Rapid developments in the field of knowledge and information have also affected
health care systems and this has necessitated the health care professionals to be able to
reach the reliable information in a fast manner [7]. In turn, the use of computer and
internet has become an inevitable requirement to meet this need [4,5,6]. Thus, the
nurses’ statuses of using computer and internet were assessed in this study.
According to the literature, computer skills of nurses and their experiences in the
use of computer affect their attitudes towards the use of computer in a positive manner
[9,10]. The fact that the nurses participating in our research have a sound background
in terms of the use of computer may ensure that they display a positive attitude towards
the relevant trainings. Besides, the fact that nurses use internet mostly to acquire
professional knowledge is a positive result for the WBT system as it increases the rate
of using internet among nurses.

3.2.Views as regards to Updating the Professional Knowledge

Nurses should constantly improve and update their knowledge and skills to achieve the
desired clinical competence level [11]. Nurses participating in this research expressed
as well that they need to renew their professional knowledge. They stated that they
need to renew their knowledge mainly in the field of diseases-medical diagnoses. In
this respect, WBT technologies are assessed as an opportunity.
 E. Uslu et al. / Web-Based Training: Readiness and Perceptions of Nurses 179

It is emphasized that nurses should renew their knowledge by using the clinical
guidelines in order to be able to fulfil their responsibilities in the clinic and they need to
use internet so as to be able to follow these guidelines. As ineffective use of resources
in access to information will lead to false retrieval, effective use of internet is
supported. In a relevant study, it was reported that the difficulties experienced by the
nurses in access to information resulted from the inadequacy in reviewing the literature
[12]. As to the present study, almost half of the nurses expressed that they have
difficulty on such grounds as time constraint and lack of appropriate environment.
These results imply that the use of WBT programs within the scope of the continuing
education in nursing where time- and space-related problems are experienced may be
effective in solving the problems reported by the nurses participating in this research.

3.3. Views concerning WBT

As the continuing education gains more importance increasingly throughout the world,
more flexible education opportunities have been needed. This necessity has been
accompanied by political and technological developments as well [13]. Thus, the use of
information technologies and online learning environments in the nursing education
has become a new trend and gained popularity [14,15].
The participants of our study expressed that they would prefer WBT model Similar
results had been obtained in the previous studies where the views of the nurses who had
received WBT about this training model were examined. For instance, the study
conducted by Liang and Wu [14] reported that nurses had positive attitudes towards
this training model. In the study carried out by Haggstrom et al. [16], nurses were
reported to find the web-based course highly useful and fruitful in terms of their
theoretical and professional developments. Nurses also expressed that their analytical
skills improved. Yamagishi et al. [17] detected that the WBT that the nurses were
provided with made a significant increase in their levels of knowledge and
assertiveness. Korhonen and Lammintakanen [18] reported in their studies that WBT
program improved health care skills. In the research conducted by Schmitt et al. [19],
nurses who were provided with a WBT expressed that WBT system was easier than the
conventional education system although the course lasted for a long time and they had
difficulty in reaching some information at home.
As a consequence, we can say that nurses are ready for this training model
considering their skills in relation to the use of computer and internet, willingness to
update their knowledge and moderate attitudes towards WBT. It can be recommended
for the field of nursing where the time-related problems are intensely experienced that
WBT programs are extended, the studies as regards to how to integrate this training
model into the continuing education are increased and their results are reflected on the
practices.

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