Bridging the Gap: S.T.A.B.L.E. cardiac education and nurses’ self-efficacy

Abstract

Background: Congenital heart diseases (CHD) are the leading cause of birth defect-associated infant illness and death. An estimated 40,000 infants are born each year with CHDs and of those, about one fourth are labeled ‘critical,’ requiring surgical repair or catheterization on or before one year of age. Infants with CHDs can quickly become unstable, requiring close and keen assessment, early identification by nursing and medical personnel, and timely intervention. Nurses caring for this vulnerable population must be knowledgeable in the anatomy, pathophysiology and stabilization of these infants to feel capable of identifying aberrations and reporting them to the medical team in a timely manner. Purpose: The purpose for this poster presentation is to present outcomes associated with implementation of a S.T.A.B.L.E. Cardiac module education. The synergy of Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory and Roger’s diffusion of innovation underpinned the design and implementation of the educational module. Methods: Cardiac anatomy, pathology and stabilization of thirteen congenital cardiac defects was presented to thirty-three care providers working in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit from a large academic Children’s Hospital who voluntarily attended the course. Providers' perceived self-efficacy with caring for infants with CHDs, before and after the intervention, was analyzed. Results: Aggregate staff satisfaction was high among nurses attending the educational intervention. Statistically significant increases in the SES scores were observed from the pre-implementation to the post-implementation. Unsolicited handwritten feedback from attendees offered staunch support for the purposeful integration of S.T.A.B.L.E. Cardiac education as a routine continuing educational offering for neonatal nurses. Implications for Practice: Offering the S.T.A.B.L.E. Cardiac Module can enable nurses assigned to neonatal cardiac patients an opportunity to accrue population-specific and focused information on congenital cardiac defects. This encourages knowledge acquisition, retention, proficiency, teamwork, communication, and task-specific competency with this vulnerable patient population. Implications for Research: Further research investigating differences in self-efficacy enable healthcare systems to evaluate the social-cognitive triad within each unit of an institution. A healthy triad of persons, behaviors, and environment is necessary for professionals to provide high quality interprofessional care grounded in the best evidence.