The educational needs of nursing staff taking care of patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

Objective: This study looks to describe the kind of education needed by nurses taking care of patients with Rheumatoid arthritis.

Methods: Survey data concerning nurses’ educational needs was collected from 11 hospitals with 33 units in two of the biggest hospital districts in Finland. The data was analyzed using thematic and summative content analysis.

Results: The educational needs of nurses concerned medicinal treatment as an entirety, multiform information about RA, multiform treatment processes of RA, specified questions of care of RA patients, RA as a part of the everyday life of the RA patient and his/her family, the emotional nursing of the RA patient and his/her loved ones, and the strengthening of nurses’ abilities to encounter patients. Education needs concerning medical issues comprised 76% of the responses. Needs connected to special questions of care covered 15%, and needs connected to emotional nursing, the patients’ everyday life and to encounters with RA patients and their loved ones comprised 9%.

Conclusions: Nurses wanted to strengthen their information base in all areas, especially those which were medically related. Educational needs concerning other professionals’ areas of knowledge (e.g., physiotherapist) might indicate that nurses want to offer all-encompassing care to their patients.