The Need for Mandatory Mental Health Continuing Education among Registered Nurses

Abstract

Continuing medical education is integral to lifelong learning and constitutes a vital aspect of keeping registered nurses’ knowledge and skills up to date. This supports best practices and the effectiveness of any interventions. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the need for mandatory mental health continuing education for practicing registered nurses. This was a descriptive cross-sectional quantitative study with a sample size of 27 registered nurses working in Health care settings in the Cayman Islands. These participants were selected using non-probability sampling technique. Convenience sampling was the chosen method. A 25 items Questionnaire was used to collect the data. Closed-ended questions, and a Likert scale were used to collect the demographic data and to measure the nurses’ perceptions of the need for the intervention under study. Analysis of the data was accomplished with Microsoft Excel. Descriptive statistics were generated. The results revealed that only a few registered nurses were extremely confident (7.40%) or quite confident (37.0 4%) in their ability to manage the care of patients with mental illnesses. The majority (88.89%) of nurses believed that there is a need for continuous medical education in mental health topics and that it should be mandatory (92%) for registered nurses. They believe and that this will make them more confident in their delivery of care to patients with underlying mental illnesses. Hence, it can be concluded that continuing education in this aspect of nursing will be beneficial for both them and the patients they care for.