REGISTERED NURSES PERCEPTIONS OF GERONTOLOGICAL CONTINUING-EDUCATION NEEDS IN THE UNITED-KINGDOM AND IN THE USA

This descriptive research was conducted to determine perceived geronto logical continuing education needs and priorities in the United Kingdo m. The data collection questionnaire utilized was developed and previo usly implemented with gerontological registered nurses in the US, Find ings and similarities from both samples are discussed, In the British study, a convenience sample of 123 gerontological registered nurses pa rticipated in the study, In the US study, a statewide random sample of 152 gerontological nurses and a purposive sample of 10 nurse experts completed surveys by post, All respondents were asked to rate either p ersonal educational need or to rate the needs of nurses in general, In both the US and UK a degree of need was indicated for every topic on the survey, with little concensus of the top priorities, t-Test analys is (P<0.05) revealed significant differences between general and perso nal perceptions for 75% of the topics in the UK study and 57% of the t opics in the US study, A noteworthy finding in both studies was the co nsistent perception that educational need was greater for nurses in ge neral than for personal need, The high level of identified need for ed ucational preparation and the diverse perceptions regarding priorities , along with disparity in the personal versus general educational need , supports the need for future research to refine needs assessment str ategies which may require a variety of strategies.