RESOURCE FAIRS FOR CONTINUING NURSING EDUCATION

The purpose of this project is to evaluate the appropriateness of a resource fair as a method of providing learning opportunities to health care professionals, primarily nurses. Educators in hospitals today are faced with the ongoing challenge of providing adequate continuing educationJ~ontinuing education is necessary to ensure nurses have the knowledge and skills to provide quality care to patients and their families. Effective and efficient methods of providing continuing education need to be explored. Resource fairs were held at hospitals within the Palliser Health Region. These resource fairs took place between November 1998 and May 1999. There were a number of similarities but attempts were made to accommodate the uniqueness of the different hospitals, which were determined by an informal needs assessment. The methodology for this study included a number of strategies. An anonymous reaction questionnaire was distributed to the participants at each site at the fair. Interviews were conducted with each ofthe other 3 educators to determine their perspective. They were directly involved with all of the resource fairs. A survey was sent to managers for their feedback as well. Personal observation was also used. The evaluation of the resource fairs indicated that they are a positive learning experience for nurses. They promote a non-threatening informal learning environment. They seem to be a viable opportunity to meet some of the learning needs of nurses, including rural nurses. The success of this educational activity is partially influenced by the support ofthe managers. Feedback received from the managers indicates they are supportive of this learning activity. Resource fairs should not be used exclusively to provide continuing education to nurses, but should be used in iii conjunction with other educational opportunities. This evaluation supports the ongoing use of resource fairs as a learning activity for health care professionals. i