Exploring ward nurses' perceptions of continuing education in clinical settings

Health care systems demand that nurses are flexible skilful workers who maintain currency and competency in order to deliver safe effective patient centered care. Nurses must continually build best practice into their care and acquire lifelong learning. Often this learning is acquired within the work environment and is facilitated by the clinical nurse educator. Understanding clinical nurses values and needs of continuing education is necessary to ensure appropriate education service delivery and thus enhance patient care. Objectives: To explore clinical ward-based nurses values and perceptions towards continuing education and what factors impact on continuing education in the ward. Design: A case study approach was utilized. Setting: A major teaching hospital in Melbourne, Australia. Participants: A range of clinical nursing staff (n. =. 23).