Use of the Nursing Outcomes Classification (NOC) to measure perceived knowledge about the control of SARS-CoV-2 infection: The impact of a training program in primary healthcare professionals

Purpose: To analyze the impact of an online training intervention on primary healthcare professionals in Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain), evaluating the perceived knowledge about prevention and control of SARS-CoV-2 infection using the NOC outcome “Knowledge: Infection management” [1842].
Methods: Quasi-experimental design with prepost analysis of 12 indicators. The participants were the 705 primary healthcare professionals, both healthcare professionals and nonhealthcare professionals, who completed the online training program prepared and implemented by nurses in the teaching and research fields between May and July 2020. The change in the perceived level of knowledge before and after, as well as other associations between this knowledge and the other variables included in the study, were confirmed.
Findings: The results of the study describe significant differences in the change between pre- and posttraining for all indicators included in the comparison.
Conclusions: This research shows the effectiveness of an online training program, appropriate for the need for social distancing required by the pandemic, in improving the knowledge of primary healthcare professionals about prevention and control of COVID-19. It also describes a new context for the use of the Nursing Outcomes Classification (NOC) through a training program organized and led by nurses.
Implications for nursing practice: Our results suggest that the NOC classification is useful for assessing perceived knowledge about prevention and control of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the community among primary healthcare professionals. This study also provides evidence of the effectiveness of a nurse-led, nurse-designed online training intervention. To this end, the outcome criterion “Knowledge: Infection management” [1842] was used and its 12 original indicators were operationally defined. Overall, this study proposes a useful new framework for the NOC taxonomy, which, in addition to being intended for the assessment of outcomes among patients, families, and communities, is versatile enough to assess knowledge outcomes among professionals as well.