The educational needs of nurses working in Australian general practices

Objective: To describe the educational needs of nurses working in general medical practice in Australia. Design: Survey research combining qualitative and quantitative data collected via telephone interview. Subjects: 222 enrolled (RN Division 2 in Victoria) and registered nurses (RN Division 1 in Victoria) working in general practice in rural and urban areas of Australia. Results: Nurses identified a number of educational areas of high importance including communication skills (94.1%); infection control (93.7%); confidentiality and national privacy legislation (93.7%); legal and ethical issues (91.9%); first aid and CPR (91.4%); wound care (91.0%); cold chain monitoring (90.0%); sterilisation (90.0%); and triage (90%). Barriers to education were identified including lack of time due to work (21.9%); costs of courses (17.3%); distance to education (13.9%); and lack of time due to family commitments (13.1%). More rural/remote nurses identified distance as a barrier (20.5%) than urban nurses (3.6%). Discussion: The education areas that were rated as important by a high number of the nurses appeared to relate directly to the activities nurses currently undertake in Australian general practice. Barriers to education may reflect the workforce characteristics of general practice nurses and/or the capacity of general practices to finance training for employees. Conclusions: As a growing specialty of nursing in Australia, general practice nursing should be supported by a solid foundation of ongoing education and training that is tailored to the current needs of nursing in general practices and reflects appropriate delivery options to overcome barriers to training. (author abstract)