effect of a training package for the prevention of ventilator associated pneumonia using a blended online learning method on the knowledge and performance of nurses working in the intensive care unit

Background & objective: it seems necessary to provide effective training methods to nurses in preventing ventilator-associated infections. the aim of this study was assessment of the knowledge and performance of intensive care unit (icu) nurses following a training package on the prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia (vap) using a blended online learning (bol) method.material & methods: in this semi-experimental study, 60 nurses from the icus of two main hospitals in najaf were included in the intervention and control groups. in the bol group, a 45-minute online training session was held. afterward, a virtual channel was formed and at a specific time, videos were shared for 5 days for further study and short questions were asked for group discussion. in the control group, two 2-hour online training sessions were held once a week. the knowledge and performance of nurses were evaluated before the intervention as well as two and four weeks after the intervention. data analysis was performed using spss 21 software with a significance level of 5%.results: the mean values of the knowledge scores were 29.3 ± 4.7 and 29.7 ± 4.1 in the intervention group and 22.6 ± 4.6 and 20.5 ± 4.7 in the control group two and four weeks after the intervention, respectively. the mean values of the performance scores were obtained at 34.1 ± 5.4 and 33.5 ± 5.6 in the intervention group and 23.8 ± 4.6 and 24.3 ± 5.7 in the control group, respectively. the results of the repeated measures anova showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of the mean score of knowledge (p = 0.001) and the mean score of performance (p = 0.031).conclusion: training using the bol method was effective in improving the level of knowledge and performance of nurses and can be used as a suitable training method in vap prevention programs.