The effect of e-learning and lecture education on critical care nurses' performance about cardiovascular medication

The present study was conducted to compare the effect of e-learning and lecture education on critical care nurses' performance about cardiovascular medication.
Background. The present time is known as the technology development time, and the educational institutions have undergone major changes. The complex learning process should not be limited to classroom and the use of  e-learning can help to overcome some barriers of traditional methods of education in nursing. This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 70 nurses working in intensive care units of social security hospitals in Isfahan province in 2017. They were recruited to the study and allocated randomly   to either lecture (n=35) or e-learning (n=35) group. Nurses’ performance was evaluated by the questionnaire of cardiovascular medication before and after the interventions, and the effect of two methods of e-learning and lecture training on nurses’ performance scores was compared. Both lecture and e-learning methods had a statistically significant effect on nurses' medication performance (P≤0.0001). However, no statistical significant difference was observed between the two groups in terms of changes in nurses' medication performance. E-learning can be a substitute for lecture education in-service-training of pharmacology topics for critical care nurses.