%0 Journal Article
%T Evaluating the effectiveness of a radiation safety training intervention for oncology nurses: a pretest ¨C intervention ¨C posttest study
%A Lawrence T Dauer
%A Joanne F Kelvin
%A Christopher L Horan
%A Jean St Germain
%J BMC Medical Education
%D 2006
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1472-6920-6-32
%X A new radiation safety training initiative was developed for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) adapting elements of current adult education theories to address common misconceptions and to enhance knowledge. A research design for evaluating the revised training program was also developed to assess whether the revised training program resulted in a measurable and/or statistically significant change in the knowledge or attitudes of nurses toward working with radiation. An evaluation research design based on a conceptual framework for measuring knowledge and attitude was developed and implemented using a pretest-intervention-posttest approach for 15% of the study population of 750 inpatient registered oncology nurses.As a result of the intervention program, there was a significant difference in nurse's cognitive knowledge as measured with the test instrument from pretest (58.9%) to posttest (71.6%). The evaluation also demonstrated that while positive nursing attitudes increased, the increase was significant for only 5 out of 9 of the areas evaluated.The training intervention was effective for increasing cognitive knowledge, but was less effective at improving overall attitudes. This evaluation provided insights into the effectiveness of training interventions on the radiation safety knowledge and attitude of oncology nurses.Devine and Doyle[1] identified barriers to effective radiation therapy treatment for carcinoma that included staff's fears and misconceptions associated with radiation. Akers[2] points out that healthcare personnel, particularly those of childbearing age, are concerned about occupational exposures as they relate to fertility and pregnancy. These fears stem primarily from misconceptions and misunderstandings of radiation and the lack of knowledge of the effects of radiation[3]. Fear of radiation is highly communicable[2] and can negatively affect patient care. This concern is especially relevant to cancer patients who often search out o
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6920/6/32