Effect of web-based education on cardiac disrhythmia learning in nursing student of Urmia University of Medical Sciences

Introduction: Web-based education is among the newer and more active methods for promotion of educational quality which enjoys advantages such as accessibility, unlimited and abundant participation of learners and its flexibility. This study aimed to investigate the effect of web-based education on cognitive learning of nursing students of Urmia University of Medical Sciences in 2010. Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study with a pre-and-post test design. All of the senior nursing students of Urmia University of Medical Sciences (42 people) were chosen as the study sample, and randomly divided into two, conventional and web-based groups. The intervention method for the first group was a web-based education course on cardiac disrhythmia and for the second group it consisted of a 6-hour lecture course on the same subject. The students’ knowledge in both groups was measured at the beginning and end of each course with pre and post tests. And the scores were compared through paired T- test. Results: The mean and standard deviation of the students’ scores before and after applying the conventional method were 16.67±3.92 and 17.85±3.49 respectively, whereas it was 16.28±3.62 and 17.85±3.49 in the web-based group, respectively. The study results revealed a significant difference between the pre and post training scores in web-based group (t=-2.62, P=0.016) and in conventional group (t=-2.47, P= 0.038). There weren’t any significant relationship between the demographic characteristics and students’ scores in either group. Conclusion: Using web-based education as a training method causes promotion of student’s cognitive learning and paves the way for using this method along with classic training methods in intensive cardiac care courses.