The Effect of Computer-Assisted Instruction of Pediatric Medication Administration on Medication Administration Skills among Nursing Students

Abstract

The present quasi-experimental research aimed to examine the effect of the computer-assisted instruction of pediatric medication administration on medication skills among nursing students. The study samples were the third-year nursing students from Ramathibodi School of Nursing in Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University. Eighty-eight of those students were selected using purposive sampling and randomly divided into two groups: a control group and an experimental group. Forty-two students in the control group were received the regular lessons, whereas forty-six students in the experimental group were received both regular lessons and the computer-assisted instruction of pediatric medication administration. The employed research instrument was the computer-assisted instruction of pediatric medication administration developed by the researchers and approved lesson contents by professional people. Data were collected using the assessment of pediatric medication administration and the evaluation for the satisfaction of the computer-assisted instruction. Data regarding demographic characteristics of the sample were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and data regarding the comparison of medication skills between the control group and the experimental group were analyzed using independent t-test. The correlation of medication skills in the experimental group before receiving the lessons, immediately and six weeks later after receiving the lessons were analyzed using linear mixed models.

The study findings showed that most of the student samples both the control group and the experimental group were female, and there was no significant difference in sample characteristics in both groups (p > .05). After learning pediatric medication administration, total scores of medication administration skills in the experimental group were higher than the control group with statistical significance at 0.01 level. In the experimental group, medication skills of enteral medication preparation, administration of medication via saline lock, intradermal, intramuscular, eye drops and ear drops administration, along with total scores of medication administration skills after receiving the lessons immediately and six weeks later were higher than that of before accepting the teaching with statistically significant at p < .01. Overall findings indicated that the student samples had high satisfaction on the computer-assisted instruction of pediatric medication administration. Therefore, computer-assisted instruction is an important tool in improving the quality of teaching and learning to be more effective.