Rural Health Outreach for Skin Care Education

This project will be a demonstration project to measure the effectiveness of a distance learning educational strategy in the development of knowledge and perceived self-efficacy of nurses in rural health settings for the assessment of pressure ulcers & perineal dermatitis.  The educational intervention will consist of completion of the National Nurses Databank for Quality Improvement (NDNQI) pressure ulcer learning modules, participation in online discussions, and completion of a wound portfolio.  Participants will be recruited from a maximum of 4 sites, with 10-20 participants per site.  Participants will complete a knowledge pre-test at the time of enrollment, and a baseline pressure ulcer prevalence study will be conducted in the facility prior to the educational intervention.  Following completion of the educational intervention, participants will submit a portfolio of wound assessments for evaluation and feedback.  Three months after the intervention, participants will complete a survey regarding satisfaction and practice patterns.  There will be a 3 month follow-up pressure ulcer prevalence study.

Data will be analyzed using SPSS.  Pre-test and post-test scores will be compared for participants using t-tests.  Pressure ulcer prevalence rates will be compared using graphical analysis depicting trends. 

The project will be implemented starting December 2010 with completion in May 2011.