The Effect of Virtual Interactive Education Versus In-person Workshop on Nurses’ Knowledge and Performance in Neonatal Skin Care in Neonatal Intensive Care Units: A Quasi-experimental Study

Background: Given the international recognition concerning the importance of digital literacy, and the increasing understanding of its importance in active learning, virtual education has recently attracted a great deal of attention. This method has provided an opportunity for teaching innovation in times of COVID-19. In this study, we aimed to compare the effects of virtual interactive education on improving nurses’ knowledge and performance in neonatal skin care.Methods: This quasi-experimental pre-post study was performed on 100 nurses working in the neonatal intensive care units. The participants were divided into three groups, namely the in-person workshop (n=34), virtual interactive education (n=33), and control (n=33). The instruments included Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) standardized questionnaire. The t test, exact fisher, and repeated measures ANCOVA were conducted to analyze the data using SPSS V. 16 software.Results: The results revealed a significant difference between the pre and post test scores of workshop and multimedia groups in terms of the mean score of knowledge compared to the control group (P<0.001). Similarly, there was a significant difference between the pre- and post-test scores of the workshop and multimedia groups concerning the mean score of performance compared to the control group (P<0.001). The mean score of knowledge and performance increased in both multimedia (20.76±1.30) and workshop groups (15.32±1.95) after the intervention, but the mean score in the multimedia group was more than that of the workshop group (P<0.001).Conclusion: According to the results, the virtual multimedia training method could be used as a solution to address the growing demand for training nursing staff provided that we could lay the required foundation and design the right training methods.