Development and evaluation of a spaced eLearning intervention for nurses in enhancing urinary catheter management - A co-design study in partnership with research end-users

Background: Nurses play a critical role in supporting patients in self-managing their indwelling urinary catheters and preventing avoidable hospital presentations. This study aimed to explore the effectiveness of a co-designed educational approach developed to enhance nurses' ability to provide optimal care for patients with catheters. Aim: The primary aim of this study was to enhance nurses' knowledge and skills in urinary catheterisation, care, and management. The secondary aim was to transform their current catheter management practices to improve patient outcomes. Setting: Nurses (n = 127) from one New South Wales, Australia region participated in the study. These nurses provided healthcare across various community settings. Ethics approval was received from the Local Health District (HREC/2019/ETH12575) and the study was registered in ANZCTR (ACTRN12621000683831). Methods: A mixed-methods approach was used, collecting data at baseline and after the intervention. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, tests for normality, and bivariate analysis with the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test to identify differences between variables. Qualitative data were analysed using a directed content analysis approach to categorise occurrences of specific phenomena. Results: The composite mean knowledge score increased from 65.03 to 84.30 following the intervention (p < 0.001). In addition, the magnitude of knowledge score improvement in seven out of eight questions following the intervention were: Financial support: 1.1 %; Bladder spasm/urine leakage: 3.3 %; Blockage: 3.5 %; Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection (CAUTI): 4.4 %; Self-management: 6.1 %; Sexuality: 7.9 %; and Urinary catheterisation: 11.3 %. Qualitative findings confirmed that the eLearning module was effective in transforming participants' clinical practice, towards improving patient outcomes. Conclusions: The co-designed eLearning module effectively addressed the learning needs of nurses, enhancing their knowledge and skills in urinary catheter management. Incorporating a theoretical model and contextual approach in the intervention delivery increased relevance, personalisation, and engagement, facilitating the behaviour change required to transform current practices.