The Effect of Virtual Interactive Education versus In-person Workshop on Nurses’ Knowledge and Performance in Neonatal Skin Care in Neonatal Intensive Care Units: A Quasi-experimental Study

Background: Given the international recognition concerning the importance of digital literacy, and the increasing understanding of its importance in active learning, virtual education has recently attracted a great deal of attention. This method has provided an opportunity for teaching innovation in times of COVID-19. In this study, we aimed to compare the effects of virtual interactive education on improving nurses’ knowledge and performance in neonatal skin care. Methods: This quasi-experimental pre-post study was performed on 100 nurses working in the neonatal intensive care units. The participants were divided into three groups, namely the in-person workshop (n=34), virtual interactive education (n=33), and control (n=33). The instruments included Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) standardized questionnaire. The t test, exact fisher, and repeated measures ANCOVA were conducted to analyze the data using SPSS V. 16 software. Results: The results revealed a significant difference between the preand post-test scores of workshop and multimedia groups in terms of the mean score of knowledge compared to the control group (P 0.001). Similarly, there was a significant difference between the pre- and post-test scores of the workshop and multimedia groups concerning the mean score of performance compared to the control group (P 0.001). The mean score of knowledge and performance increased in both multimedia (20.76±1.30) and workshop groups (15.32±1.95) after the intervention, but the mean score in the multimedia group was more than that of the workshop group (P 0.001). Conclusion: According to the results, the virtual multimedia training method could be used as a solution to address the growing demand for training nursing staff provided that we could lay the required foundation and design the right training methods.