Improving quality of care: A model for educating emergency rooms nurses in the Country of Georgia

A functional emergency care system is crucial to the well being of any country. The quality and scope of prehospital and hospital emergency services in the country of Georgia is poor. Facilities are inadequate, equipment is lacking or not functioning, and physicians, nurses, and technical support staff in radiology and laboratory are insufficiently trained. Emergency room (ER) nursing is virtually a non-existent sub-specialty in the country of Georgia. Nursing education is at a low level and historically nurses have not been allowed to participate as equal members of the health care team. As part of a larger USAID grant to Partners for International Development (PfID) to develop a model of emergency care in Georgia, a team of nursing educators have initiated an education program for emergency room nurses to be carried out over 2 years. Starting with Central Republican Hospital in Tbilisi, then expanding countrywide, this program will train in-country personnel as workers and trainers who can work in modern interdisciplinary ER teams and act as educators for the rest of the country in both emergency room and disaster nursing. This paper will present the results of the first year of the grant with respect to training these nurses. Educational pre/post test scores will be presented as well as qualitative data on nurses roles in the ER after intense training has occurred.