Introduction: One of the important tasks of nurses in intensive
care unit is interpretation of ECG. The use of training simulator is
a new paradigm in the age of computers. This study was performed
to evaluate the impact of cardiac arrhythmias simulator software
on nurses’ learning in the subspecialty Vali-Asr Hospital in 2016.
Methods: This study was conducted by quasi-experimental
randomized Salomon four group design with the participation
of 120 nurses in subspecialty Vali-Asr Hospital in Tehran,
Iran in 2016 that were selected purposefully and allocated in 4
groups. By this design other confounding factors such as the
prior information, maturation and the role of sex and age were
controlled by Solomon 4 design. The valid and reliable multiple
choice test tools were used to gather information; the validity of
the test was approved by experts and its reliability was obtained
by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient 0.89. At first, the knowledge and
skills of the participants were assessed by a pre-test; following
the educational intervention with cardiac arrhythmias simulator
software during 14 days in ICUs, the mentioned factors were
measured for the two groups again by a post-test in the four
groups. Data were analyzed using the two way ANOVA. The
significance level was considered as p<0.05.
Results: Based on randomized four-group Solomon designs and
our test results, using cardiac arrhythmias simulator software
as an intervention was effective in the nurses’ learning since a
significant difference was found between pre-test and post-test
in the first group (p<0.05). Also, other comparisons by ANOVA
test showed that there was no interaction between pre-test and
intervention in all of the three knowledge areas of cardiac
arrhythmias, their treatments and their diagnosis (p>0.05).
Conclusion: The use of software-based simulator for cardiac
arrhythmias was effective in nurses’ learning in light of its
attractive components and interactive method. This intervention
increased the knowledge of the nurses in cognitive domain of
cardiac arrhythmias in addition to their diagnosis and treatment.
Also, the package can be used for training in other areas such as
continuing medical education
