Teaching Breast Cancer Screening via Text Messages as Part of Continuing Education for Working Nurses: A Case-control Study

Abstract

Introduction: Although continuing education is necessary for practicing nurses, it is very difficult to organize traditional classes because of large numbers of nurses and working shifts. Considering the increasing development of mobile electronic learning, we carried out a study to compare effects of the traditional face to face method with mobile learning delivered as text messages by cell phone. Materials and Methods: Sixty female nurses working in our hospital were randomly divided into class and short message service (SMS) groups. Lessons concerning breast cancer screening were prepared as 54 messages and sent in 17 days for the SMS group, while the class group participated in a class held by a university lecturer of breast and cancer surgery. Pre-and post-tests were undertaken for both groups at the same time; a retention test also was performed one month later. For statistical analysis, the paired T test and the independent sample T test were used with SPSS software version 16; p<0.05 was considered significant. Results: Mean age and mean work experience of participants in class and SMS groups was 35.8±7.2, 9.8±6.7, 35.4±7.3, and 11.5±8.5, respectively. There was a significant increase in mean score post-tests (compared with pre-tests) in both groups (p<0.05). Although a better improvement in scores of retention tests was demonstrated in the SMS group, the mean subtraction value of the post-and pretests as well as retention-and pre-tests showed no significant difference between the 2 groups (p=0.3 and p =0.2, respectively). Conclusions: Our study shows that teaching via SMS may probably replace traditional face to face teaching for continuing education in working nurses. Larger studies are suggested to confirm this.

Opportunistic screening actions for breast cancer performed by nurses working in primary health care

“…International studies have shown that the increased knowledge of nurses is associated with their professional experience and completion of courses after undergraduate training, and stress the importance of professional training and constant updating of knowledge for effective control of mammary tumors (16)(17)(18) .…”

“…International studies on mammography affirm that a satisfactory relationship between professionals and users of health services is essential for adherence to breast cancer screening exams, and that the quality of the care provided by nurses is important to motivate adherence by female public health users to these exams (17)(18) .…”

“…Rev Esc Enferm USP · 2016;50(1): [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] women aged between 40 and 69 years. This protocol is in accordance with the guidelines of the Brazilian Society of Mastology, which diverges from that of the MOH.…”

A pilot of the use of Short Message Service (SMS) as a training tool for anaesthesia nurses

“…7 About 98% of sampled healthcare workers in Kenya owned mobile telephones, 8 and training delivered via SMS has led to improved nurse adherence to guidelines in that country and several other African projects. 9,10 SMS-based training interventions have also shown retention of knowledge scores equivalent to didactic teaching at 30 days, 11 while an improved adherence to guidelines was sustained at 6 months post the original intervention in a project in Kenya. 12 In rural South Africa a group of nurses reported several 'organically grown' mobile-telephone-based practices facilitating learning, including reflective practice, emotional support and teaching in unpredictable situations.…”

“…13 The success of mLearning in the developing world has been well documented in African rural healthcare workers treating infectious diseases, 9,10,12 but only one study, on nurses screening for breast cancer in Iran, was found in a hospital-based setting. 11 Documentation of its efficacy in an African hospital-based scenario was not found and it has not been proved in anaesthesia nurses. This study attempts to validate the use of SMS as a training tool for hospital-based anaesthesia nurses.…”