Evaluating the efficacy of Jahezon's educational program on critical nursing care: A quasi-experimental study

Abstract

Objective: Competent and trained nurses are essential for critical care preparedness. This study assesses the impact of an educational training program (Jahezon) on the participants' critical care knowledge by comparing their pre- and post-knowledge outcomes.

Methods: This study used a quasi-experimental one-group pre-test-post-test design to examine the impact of 40 days of theoretical and practical training on 43 selected nurses from 16 hospitals located in the Hai’l Health cluster, situated in the city of Hai’l, Saudi Arabia. The training program started on November 2021, the curriculum covered a comprehensive range of critical care nursing concepts and was divided into four phases. The instrument used to assess knowledge was a 50-item multiple-choice questionnaire, which was administered as a pre-test, post-test, and a 6-month follow-up test format. The data were analyzed using SPSS v29.0.

Results: The mean total scores were the highest in the follow up test (M = 9.87, SD = 2.34), followed by the post-test (M = 7.57, SD = 0.98) and the pre-test (M = 5.91, SD = 1.06), showing a statistically significant difference (F(2, 117) = 64.834, p < .001). From the pre-test to the post-test, 93% of the total scores improved. The only demographic factor that affected the test scores was gender, with female nurses scoring higher.

Conclusions: The nurses' knowledge improved significantly after their participation in the critical care training program, but more research is needed to determine their actual performance in caring for critically ill patients during a pandemic.