Effectiveness of an educational module on nurses’ performance regarding safe administration and adverse effects of neuromuscular blocking agents in critically ill patients

Abstract

Background: Inadequate nurse’s knowledge and poor skills regarding neuromuscular blocking agents lead to harm administration and associated with adverse effects and negative outcomes. Addressing these deficiencies through targeted education and training programs is essential for enhancing patient safety and improving healthcare outcomes. Aim: to assess effectiveness of an educational module on nurses’ performance regarding safe administration and adverse effects of neuromuscular blocking agents in critically ill patients. Design: A quasi-experimental design was used. Setting: The study was conducted at intensive care units affiliated to Medical Ain-Shams university hospital. Subjects: A purposive sample of nurses (80) was working in previously mentioned setting. Data collection tools: Nurses’ knowledge questionnaire and nurses’ practices observational checklist, and nurses reported adverse effect. Results: the present study revealed that, there were improvement of the studied nurses’ satisfactory level of knowledge regarding administration of neuromuscular blocking agents, clinical practice guideline recommendation, the studied nurses’ competent level of practice, and reported adverse effect from (11.6, 8.4, 6.3, 8.3, and 7.5%) at pre-implementation to (88.4, 91.6, 93.7, 91.7 and 97.5%) at post-implementation phase, respectively, with a highly statistically significant differences between pre/post at P < 0.001. Conclusion: The implementing educational module had positive large effect size on nurses’ performance (Knowledge and practice) regarding safe administration, recognize and manage the potential adverse effects of neuromuscular blocking agents in critically ill patients throughout pre/post phases of the study at η2 = 0. 729 and 0.833. Recommendations: Study the effectiveness of simulation, virtual reality, and AI-based tools in improving NMBA-related nursing competencies. Clinical trial number: Not applicable.