In the nursing profession it is necessary for a nurse to engage in continuing education to keep up to date. In Lebanon efforts to establish such continuing education are being made. However, a cross-sectional study conducted on a representative sample of 254 nurses found that 60 per cent attend an insufficient number of continuing education sessions per year. Attendees are mainly older, married senior nurses with long professional experience; they evaluated the aspects of these sessions positively, but denied that they made any constructive difference to the evolution of their careers. It is clear that the objectives of continuing education need to be clarified for nurses; to this end, prospects for promotion would be welcome to further motivate attendees.
Al-Ma'aitahR (1999) ‘Assessment of Nursing Continuing Education Needs in Jordan’, Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, vol 30(4), pp 176–81.
2.
American Nurses' Association Standards for Continuing Education in Nursing (1984) American Nurses' Association, Kansas City.
3.
AndersonE P (2001) ‘Continuing Education in Sweden: To what purpose?’, Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, vol 32(2), pp 86–93.
4.
BarriballK LWhileA. E. (1996) ‘Participation in Continuing Professional Education in Nursing: Findings of an interview study’, Journal of Advanced Nursing, vol 23(5), pp 999–1007.
5.
BarriballK LWhileA ENormanI J (1992) ‘Continuing Professional Education for Qualified Nurses: A review of the literature’, Journal of Advanced Nursing, vol 17, pp 1129–40.
6.
BignellACrottyM (1988) ‘Continuing Education: Does it enhance care?’, Senior Nurse, vol 8(4), pp 26–9.
CerveroR M (1985) ‘Continuing Professional Education and Behavioral Change: A model for research and evaluation’, Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, vol 16(3), pp 85–8.
9.
ChapmanRHallR (1992) ‘Post-Registration Education in Three Fields of Practice’, Nursing Times, vol 88(43): Pp 53–6.
EdwardsN (2001) ‘Continuing Education for Nurses in Tianjin Municipality, People's Republic of China’, Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, vol 32(1), pp 31–7.
12.
FerrarioC (2004a) ‘Developing Clinical Reasoning strategies’, Journal for Nurses in Staff Development, vol 20(5), pp 229–35.
13.
FerrarioC (2004b) ‘Developing Nurses’ Critical Thinking Skills with Concept Mapping’, Journal for Nurses in Staff Development, vol 20(6), pp 261–7.
14.
FerrellM J (1988) ‘The Relationship of Continuing Education Offerings to Self-Reported Change in Behavior’, Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, vol 19(1), pp 21–4.
15.
FurzeGPearceyP (1999) ‘Continuing Education in Nursing: A review of the literature’, Journal of Advanced Nursing, vol 29(2), pp 355–63.
KleinpellR M (1999) ‘Continuing Education for Advanced Practice Nurses’, Advanced Practice in Acute and Critical Care, vol 10(1), pp 127–32.
18.
KristjansonL JScanlonJ M (1989) ‘Assessment of Continuing Nursing Education Needs: A literature review’, Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, vol 20(3) pp 118–23.
19.
LarcombeK.MaggsC (1991) Processes for Identifying the Continuing Professional Education Needs of Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors: An evaluation, Project Paper no. 5, English National Board, London.
20.
Lebanese Ministry of Public Health (2003) ‘Hospital Accreditation Standards, Lebanon’, on www.public-health.gov.lb [accessed on July 2005].
21.
OzogJ (2005) ‘Review of Contributing Factors to Problems that May Result from an Inexperienced Nursing Staff’, Nursing Management, vol 36(2), pp 50–1.
22.
VoelkerT (2002) ‘Lebanon's Pharmaceutical Sector’, GAT, April, pp 26–8.
23.
WimpennyL (2003) ‘Continuing Professional Development: A review’, Nursing Standards, vol 17(24), pp 41–4.
