SOCIO-POLITICAL HISTORY OF ABUALA COMMUNITY SINCE 1915

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Background to the Study Jaraheh & Hamdeh, (2020) defined continuing profession education as the maintenance of enhancement of the knowledge, expertise and competence of professionals throughout their career according to a plan formulated with regards to the needs of the professional employee and society. It is specified area of adult education that primarily evolved in response to the educational needs in the professionals in their effort to keep abreast of new techniques, skills, and knowledge (Tanyak, 2021). Globally, all professions have recognized the phenomenon of continuing professional education (CPE) as a primary method of enhancing performance regularly. Aris et al, (2020) advised that nurses should engage in continuing professional education since they make up the largest group of health care professionals. Also, that advances in technology climate, changes, increased need of health care services etc all pose challenges to our health care system. Nurses should therefore, participate in CPE to develop skills and competence, and remain current in their practice (Aris et al, 2020). Patient expectations or high quality health care services lead health care providers to improve the educational status of health professionals in order to meet up with these expectations and avoid obsolete practices that have been emphasized as ineffective. Today, almost all professionals find it necessary to enroll in these program in order to acquire knowledge and skills to grow professionally and enhance competence (Chong, 2020). According to Yusufu (2018), the nursing profession in Nigeria has indicated high value for in service training and maintenance of quality patient care. Presently, only a few institutions have been able to create in-service training units to meet this need of the practicing nurses. However, many researchers asserted that most of the nurses do not voluntarily wish to update their professional knowledge regularly thus mandatory requirements are timely for it to be implemented (Chong & Barbara, 2020). Chong (2020) further opined that professional development occurs where professionals seek to maintain or improve the quality of their professional education depend partly on the employer or the nurse manager and the individual nurse. Aris et al, (2020) opined that continuing professional development as a subset of lifelong learning is gaining increasing recognition in the both its personal and professional health services delivering needs and the learning needs of individual health care professionals. However, many nurses encounter difficulties in gaining access to continuing professional development, and those opportunities provided may be restricted to traditional methods, such as formal academic programmes and large number of nursing staff, do not have access to professional updating. In deduction therefore, the aim of this study is to determine the perception and attitude of nurses towards continuing professional education in Imo State University Teaching Hospital, Orlu Local Government Area, Imo State. Statement of Problem Effective health care ultimately depends on the knowledge and skills of the people involved in health care delivery. Hence, education and training are the key tools to meet the increasingly technological demands of the society in order not to practice absolute practices and to avoid future short falls. Chong (2020) affirmed that the basic education for practice becomes obsolete within five (5) years of graduation and the obsolescence can cause nurses to perform poorly and lead to client disability, continued illness and even death of clients. So it is important that nurses need to update their knowledge and skills continuously. Objectives of the Study The purpose of the study is to ascertain perception and attitude of nurses to towards continuing professional education in Imo State University Teaching Hospital,