Effect of Text Messaging Via Cell Phone on the Knowledge of Critical Care Nurses Regarding Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia

Ventilator-associated pneumonia is a type of hospital-acquired pneumonia, and nurses have an essential role in its prevention.

This study aimed to determine the effect of text messaging via cell phone on nurses’ knowledge in intensive care units about ventilator-associated pneumonia.

This quasi-experimental study was performed in intensive care units of hospitals in North Khorasan Province, Iran. Nurses working in these wards were included in the study through the census sampling method. The research tool was a researcher-made questionnaire about ventilator-associated pneumonia whose qualitative face validity, quantitative content validity, and reliability were assessed. After a pre-test, text messages were sent 4 days a week, once a day for 10 weeks. The post-test was administered 1 and 3 months after that the last message was sent. To compare nurses’ knowledge before and after the intervention, repeated measures analysis of variance was used in SPSS software (version 20).

A total of 41 nurses were included whose mean scores of knowledge about ventilator-associated pneumonia were obtained at 9.65±1.89, 14.56±3.00, 14.63±2.7 at the baseline and 1 month and 3 months after sending text messages, respectively. It was revealed that the score before sending the messages was different from those 1 and 3 months after the intervention, which was statistically significant (P<0.05). Implications for Practice: It seems that the use of new educational methods, such as text messaging, can effectively improve nurses’ knowledge.