Effect of Integrated Teaching on Learning Clinical Skills among Rural Trained Birth Attendants Participating in a Continuing Midwifery Education Workshop

Background & Objective : Evidences reveal that continuing education courses for employees have not really influenced the improvement of clinical skills and patient care This implies the need to alter educational methods of such courses Hence this study was conducted to assess the effect of integrated teaching on learning clinical skills among rural trained birth attendants participating in a continuing midwifery education course   Methods : In this experimental study ۶۳ participants of a continuing education course were randomly divided into two groups of integrated education and conventional one Data was collected using a questionnaire and Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) After pre test an ۸ hour specific educational program for each group about midwifery emergencies was conducted for two days The participants skills were evaluated instantly and one month after the course by OSCE   Results : The pretest mean score was not significantly different between two groups but the mean scores of integrated method were significantly higher than the conventional one regarding posttest (۶۰۰۹ versus ۴۸۲۳) and consistency test (۵۱۱۶ versus ۴۰۵۵)(P=۰۰۰۰۱ in both cases) The skill score difference between pretest and posttest and the same difference in consistency test in integrated teaching was significantly higher than the conventional method (P=۰۰۰۰۱ in both cases)   Conclusion : Our findings suggest that consistency in learning and a higher level of skills was observed in the integrated method Hence it is proposed to apply such methods in continuing education workshops to teach clinical skills

Keywords:

Clinical skills , Continuing education workshop , Integrated method , Rural trained birth attendants