A realist evaluation of a safe medication administration education programme in the Republic of Ireland

Browne, Freda 2018. A realist evaluation of a safe medication administration education programme in the Republic of Ireland. Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

Background: Continuing professional education (CPE) for nurses is deemed an essential component to develop, maintain and update professional skills and practice in order to ensure that nurses respond effectively to care requirements and provide a high standard of patient care. However, there is little empirical evidence of its effectiveness or factors which may influence its application into practice. This thesis explores a continuing professional education programme on the safe administration of medication and how new knowledge and skills are transferred into clinical practice. Design: Realist evaluation provides the framework for this research study. Realist evaluation stresses the need to evaluate programmes within "context," and to ask what "mechanisms" are acting to produce which "outcomes." The realist evaluation cycle for this study had four distinct stages. Firstly, I built initial theories as conjectured CMO configurations (Stage 1 and 2), then these CMO conjectures were tested (Stage 3) and then they were refined (Stage 4). Methods: Data was collected and analysed separately for each of Stages 1, 2 and 3. However, as realist evaluation is iterative, I often returned to a previous stage to clarify meaning or understanding. Document analysis and interviews were used in Stage 1 to commence the process of building CMO conjectures. Realist interviews took place in Stage 2 to refine the conjectured CMO configurations. Stage 3 involved the testing of the conjectured CMO configurations through three embedded case studies which involved interview, clinical observation, analysis of further documents and analysis of data from reported critical incidents and nursing care metric measurements.

Item Type:	Thesis (Other)
Date Type:	Submission
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Healthcare Sciences
Subjects:	L Education > LC Special aspects of education > LC5201 Education extension. Adult education. Continuing education
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	4 February 2019
Date of Acceptance:	4 February 2019
Last Modified:	17 Aug 2021 14:42
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/119185

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