The employment of ward opinion leaders for continuing education in the hospital

Abstract

Opinion leaders (OLs) are members within a social group with significant social influence over others. A guideline on urinary catheter care was introduced in three groups (A, B and C) of two randomly allocated wards. Two OLs per ward were identified by nurses in groups A and B, using a sociometric method. For education, inservice lectures for 30% of nurses and OLs tutorials for all nurses were used in group A; OLs tutorials in B, lectures in C and ward nurses were in turn responsible for educating new arrivals of student nurses. Before and after the education programme, the guideline's frequency of practice was assessed by surveying 30% of randomly selected nurses and by direct observation for incorrect practices. A student's quiz on the guideline was also conducted. For all three methods of measurement, the best results were in group A followed by B and C; and the differences for the three groups were significant (p less than 0.05). This indicates that continuing education in the hospital can be effectively conducted by the enlistment of ward OLs.

Evidence-Based Strategies for Implementing Guidelines in Obstetrics

“…He is a member who has significant social influence over others within a social group. 64 The key to success of the opinion leader strategy is the improvement of feedback and acceptance of the local intervention, 24,27 but his action is not systematically efficient alone. Sisk et al 27 showed that, although opinion leaders identified obstacles, they have not found a successful way to influence a mother's behavior.…”

Interventions aimed at increasing research use in nursing: a systematic review

“…Two had unit of analysis errors where the investigators allocated by group but did not account for clustering in the analysis [24,25]. Of the two studies without unit of analysis errors, the investigators of one study allocated by unit and accounted for clustering [26], while the other allocated and analyzed at the provider level [27].…”

Increasing research use in nursing: implications for clinical educators and managers

“…Both reported non-significant changes in outcomes, which suggests that educational meetings are ineffective. In the third study assessing an educational intervention, the authors examined an interactive educational meeting in addition to a local opinion leader;17 nurses who attended both an educational session and a tutorial led by a local opinion leader reported increased research use. The authors of the fourth study16 investigated the formation of multidisciplinary committees of clinicians and researchers working to operationalise a process to increase research use by oncology nurses; research use by clinicians increased after participation 16…”

“…Marketers have long recognised the benefits of opinion leaders by way of influential and interpersonal communication 47 48. The review of interventions to increase research use by nurses 14 identified 1 study that reported positive effects of using local opinion leaders 17. In a broader healthcare context, the effect of local opinion leaders as change agents is mixed 10 43 46.…”