Completion rates of an online COPD educational resource for nurses

Introduction: Nurses play an increasingly important role in the management of patients with COPD across Europe. However there are often skills gap and lack of access to accessible education that is appropriate to the needs of the learner. Aims and objectives: An educational package was developed by Education for Health with endorsement from the European Respiratory Nurses Association (ERNA) for use by COPD nurses. In order to widen access the learning intervention was delivered online, concomitantly revealing the uptake and completion rates of the resource. Methods: The highly engaging resource was created through blending animation, MCQs and interactive activities. Student performance and activity was analysed through a linked LMS. Results: 911 users have registered to use the resource since launch on the 20/11/2013 Users from the UK (70%), Netherlands (7.5%) and Brazil (6%), with the remainder largely European countries 95 users have completed the full programme. 3,458 sessions have been recorded indicating that users are logging in multiple times, suggesting that the site is used more as a reference resource as opposed to a course. This is supported by the finding that a third of users on the site are also returning visitors and also that 23% of users accessed the resource on mobile devices Average usage time per user: 2 hrs. 45 min. Conclusions: The relatively low completion rate aligns to the tool being used more as a reference resource rather than a complete course. Online education is an acceptable mode of delivery and wider access to education for nurses and as the potential to improve patient care worldwide.