Observational Checklist –As an Instrument to Measure Intramuscular Injection Administration Skills among Students in the Institute of Nursing, Kuwait

Abstract

There is no doubt that evaluation in nursing education for performance is an important activity with significant consequences. The outcome of an evaluation will have serious implications on students, teachers and eventually on the recipients of nursing care. This study aimed to measure Intramuscular Injection skills among students using structural demonstration session (with checklist) as compared with those using traditional teaching session (without checklist). The study was conducted at skills laboratory in the Institute of Nursing in Kuwait. A sample of 57 students enrolled in Medical Nursing was divided into two groups, experimental and control. A questionnaire was used to obtain student’s socio-demographic characteristics and an observational checklist was developed to evaluate the student’s performance in both groups. Pilot study was done on ten students to test the reliability of the checklist. The study findings indicated that all the differences between the two groups were not statistically significant. Regarding preparation of medication, it was found that there was no significant difference between the experimental and the control group except in four steps, while in the injection part, there was significant difference only in one step. The Findings have important implications for developing checklist and other tools for evaluating performance skills in the Institute to maintain the quality of nursing education and utilize effective methods in preparing future nurses. Instructors should focus their efforts to find the best tools to educate, train and evaluate the nursing students. Further study related to nursing procedures is needed with a larger sample and different nursing procedures.

Keywords: Observational Checklist, Intramuscular Injection, skills performance.