A continuing education conference about patients with parkinson’s disease and their caregivers

Background: Conferences—formal meetings for learning—are a common venue for nurses to receive continuing education. This study used multimodal strategies, such as storytelling, lecture, case presentation, and discussions, to a deliver conference presentation. Method: Seventy-five and 69 rehabilitation nurses completed pretest and posttest surveys, respectively. Using an evaluative research design, seven questions measured the change in knowledge for Parkinson’s disease (PD) and PD patient caregiver’s needs. Two additional questions measured the change in comfort level with both topics. Results: For knowledge questions, the mean (± SD) number of correct questions significantly increased from 3.4 (±1.0) to 5.2 (±0.9) (t = -10.0, p < .001). Participants reported increased comfort with PD and caregivers’ needs, which was also statistically significant. Conclusion: Multimodal education strategies can provide robust conference experiences and improve learning. For the successful transfer of knowledge to diverse learners, careful planning of conference content must include attention to diverse teaching strategies.