A study of the effects of the appointment of a clinical nurse educator in one Victorian emergency department

The Clinical Nurse Educator (CNE) project saw the appointment and evaluation of a CNE position in the Emergency Department at Dandenong Hospital, Australia. The study aimed to identify the educational needs of nursing staff, the self reported levels of knowledge of nursing staff, the perceptions of nursing staff surrounding education and clinical support and to compare responses over the 6 month period to identify any statistically significant changes. Data was collected at three intervals during the study period and the responses compared using the Kruskal-Wallis test(H). Since the appointment of the CNEs, the reported levels of knowledge increased for all areas of emergency nursing included in the study. Tutorials, in-service education sessions, direct clinical support and self-directed learning packages were reported to be useful educational methods. There were increases in the reported adequacy of in-service education (P = 0.0000), level of clinical support and satisfaction with current level of knowledge in emergency nursing. Nursing staff found the process of basic and advanced life support assessment less intimidating (P = 0.0031), more important and less affected by workload constraints of the ED (P = 0.0002). The reported thoroughness of orientation of new employees (P = 0.0005) and levels of clinical support and education when orientated to the triage role (P = 0.0225) also increased.