Education interventions and emergency nurses’ clinical practice behaviours: A scoping review

Abstract

Background

Many education interventions in emergency nursing are aimed at changing nurse behaviours. This scoping review describes and synthesises the published research education interventions and emergency nurses’ clinical practice behaviours.

Methods

Arksey and O’Malley’s methodological framework guided this review, which is reported according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). CINAHL, MEDLINE complete, ERIC, and Psycinfo were searched on 3 August 2023. Two pairs of researchers independently conducted all screening. Synthesis was guided by the Behaviour Change Wheel and Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives.

Results

Twenty-five studies were included. Educational interventions had largely positive effects on emergency nurses’ clinical practice behaviours. Ten different interventions were identified, the most common was education sessions (n = 24). Seven studies reported underpinning theoretical frameworks. Of the essential elements of behaviour change, seven interventions addressed capability, four addressed motivation and one addressed opportunity. Mapping against Bloom’s taxonomy, thirteen studies addressed analysis, eleven studies addressed synthesis and two studies addressed evaluation.

Conclusion

Few studies addressed elements of behaviour change theory or targeted cognitive domains. Future studies should focus on controlled designs, and more rigorous reporting of the education intervention(s) tested, and theoretical underpinning for intervention(s) selected.