| The lack of appropriately trained physicians has been viewed by members of the Future of Emergency Medicine Summit as a threat to safe patient care in our emergency departments (Schneider et al., 2010). Both the Institute of Medicine and leaders in emergency medicine have called on new and innovative practices to train emergency medicine professionals to meet this need (IOM, 2010; Schneider et al., 2010). The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to determine how a standardized curriculum of airway management delivered in a blended learning format affected the knowledge and confidence of nurses and emergency medicine professionals. The study was conducted using constructivist learning theory. The airway management module from the Comprehensive Advanced Life Support (CALS) standard curriculum was offered via blended learning in comparison to the traditional face-to-face manner. A small group of emergency medicine professionals from the Upper Midwest participated in the study completing a knowledge quiz and confidence scale for comparison. No significant difference was appreciated between knowledge and confidence among the groups. These findings support the evolving strategy of blended learning, when built upon constructive learning theory, for training emergency medicine professionals to fill the gap in care presented by insufficient numbers of trained physicians. |
