Educational Needs and Motivations for Lifelong Learning of Nurses

Introduction: Lifelong learning is defined as "the official training following undergraduate education but differs from traditional postgraduate and doctoral programs." It is particularly important for health professionals as it prepares medical and nursing staff to improve and perform better in current or future positions. Purpose: The main aim of this study was to investigate the educational needs and motivations for lifelong learning of nurses in hospitals of Thessaloniki and the Region of Central Macedonia. Material and methods: The convenience sampling method was chosen for the study. After nurses were approached in certain hospitals, a questionnaire, which was used as a tool for data collection, was distributed to them. The sample of the study consisted of 196 adult nurses, working in various departments in 2 hospitals of Thessaloniki, as well as one in the Region of Central Macedonia. The administrative staff of the hospitals was excluded from the study. Results: Approximately 90% of the participant nurses claimed that are being informed about developments in the science. The main sources of information are the conferences and the Internet. Only 62.6% of nurses had participated in lifelong learning programs at some point, while in the last year, the percentage of people who had participated in such programs was equal to 33.5%. The most common lifelong learning programs in which the nurses of the sample participated were inpatient classes, conferences and workshops. Conclusions: Nurses' motivations for lifelong learning programs are similar regardless of their country of origin, the hospital they work and their demographic characteristics. There are significant differences in the extent to which these motivations affect nurses. The job, the hospital, the country and the personal and demographic data of nurses contribute greatly to these differences.