Education Program for Outpatient Nurses for Nursing Practice Empowering Patients Living with Cancer : Usability of the Pilot Version of the Program and Its Feasibility for Implementation at Facilities

<p>　Objective:To develop a pilot version of the Education Program for Outpatient Nurses for Nursing Practice Empowering Patients Living with Cancer and to test its usability and feasibility for implementation at facilities.</p><p>　Methods:1） Developing the pilot program: The purpose of the program was to train outpatient nurses to enable the implementation of nursing practice that empowers patients living with cancer. The learners were nurses who were engaged in the care of outpatients living with cancer and who were able to perform basic tasks in their departments. The program consisted of five subprograms （SPs）, a checklist （CL） of practical skills, two supplementary materials, and five recording forms. Learners were asked to select their preferred SPs based on their needs. 2） Study procedure: Outpatient nurses who met the learner criteria （n=9） and their supervisors （n=9） at designated cancer care hospitals were asked to implement the program. After implementation, the nurses and their supervisors, as well as the nursing managers in charge of education at their facilities （n=5） were interviewed about the usability of the program and its feasibility in their facilities. In addition, CL scores before and after implementation were compared.</p><p>　Results:1） Usability: Outpatient nurses reported that the program allowed them to “steadily acquire competencies”, while their supervisors reported that the program “covered the necessary content for education”. The CL scores increased for 10 （90.9%） of the 11 SPs after the program was implemented. 2） Feasibility for implementation: Both the supervisors and managers indicated that the implementation of the program “would be possible with sufficient time and human resources”, and that the program “will need to be simplified for implementation”.</p><p>　Discussion:We demonstrated that the pilot version of the program may be effective for improving the ability for outpatient nurses to implement nursing practice that empowers patients living with cancer. The program needs to be simplified while maintaining its quality of education to facilitate its full implementation across facilities.</p>