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Journal of Medical Education

Abstract

Purpose: Continuing education for nurse practitioners (NPs) is important. To improve the quality of medical care, we developed an endocrine training course for NPs in a district hospital in Eastern Taiwan. Methods: Taitung Christian Hospital is a small district hospital in Eastern Taiwan. An endocrine training course was introduced when a new endocrinologist joined the hospital. The course included six lectures on the following topics: thyroid, adrenal, pituitary, parathyroid, hypoglycemia, and secondary hypertension. Topic-related cases were demonstrated following each lecture. These 1-hour lessons were scheduled once every two weeks. Test 1 was held after lesson 3. Test 2 and a questionnaire survey were conducted after lesson 6. Results: Thirteen NPs attended the endocrine training course. Their average score were 65.83 ± 14.43 and 74.17 ± 15.05 for Test 1 and Test 2, respectively. Based on a 5-point Likert scale, 1 (the least) to 5 (the most), their self-assessed understanding of thyroid, adrenal, pituitary, parathyroid, hypoglycemia, and secondary hypertension improved from 1.92 ± 0.67 to 3.83 ± 0.83, 1.50 ± 0.67 to 3.83 ± 0.94, 1.50 ± 0.67 to 3.67 ± 0.89, 1.50 ± 0.67 to 3.67 ± 0.89, 2.33 ± 0.78 to 4.17 ± 0.72, and 1.92 ± 0.67 to 3.83 ± 0.83 (Wilcoxon Signed-rank test, all p ＜ 0.01), respectively. The majority of participants reported high satisfaction with the content, schedule, case demonstration, and tests. They considered the training course as valuable in enhancing their medical knowledge and improving their clinical competences. Conclusions: The training course improved NPs' understanding of endocrine disorders. Continuing education for NPs is important. To improve the quality of medical care, more training courses in different fields should be developed.

First Page

1

Last Page

7

DOI

10.6145/jme.202103_25(1).0004

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