Nursing and Online Education Programs
Proliferating Programs
Distance education courses in continuing nursing education programs are rapidly increasing in number and size. Universities traditionally devoted to on-campus education activities are joining the ranks of their nontraditional counterparts in offering associate, baccalaureate, master’s, and doctoral programs fully or partially online. Additionally, the high cost and time constraints of hospitals in providing mandatory continuing education for nursing staff has spawned the development of companies providing online courses to meet all or a portion of a nurse’s biennial education requirements for re-licensing.
The American Nurses’ Association (ANA) defines nurse professional development as “the lifelong process of active participation in learning activities to enhance professional practice”. Nurses are challenged to maintain current knowledge on evidence-based professional practice and rapidly changing professional, ethical, and legal issues. Online education provides a means to enhance nursing professionals’ clinical knowledge and skills, including technological, clinical decision making, leadership, management, even pharmaceutical advances and updates.
Health Professional Need For Continuing Education
Nurses recognize the need for lifelong learning, and management acknowledges that environments rich in continuing education tend to advance staff development, increase morale, and promote retention. In view of the present nursing shortage in all areas, as well as the constantly shifting health care setting, new illnesses, and changing patient responses to drugs, infections, and the environment, the challenge is to provide continuing education to all nurses. This education must take into consideration the complexity of the staff’s varying backgrounds, certification, and interest, as well as the limited resources provided for professional development.
Access to and use of online continuing education by physicians and nurses have been studied. Findings indicate that the use of the Internet for professional development among physicians and nurses is growing, especially in relationship to continuing education. However, easy access to relevant and credible information that is quickly available, easy to use, and relatively low cost were priorities identified by health professionals. In addition, indexing the clinically focused health information online is challenging but important to enhance its usefulness to nurses and other health care providers.
Use Of The Internet For Health Information
Several studies have been done examining health professionals’ use of the Internet for health information and continuing education. One of the more thorough and informative studies, a randomized market survey of 800 occupational health and safety professionals in an eight-state Midwest region of the United States, found that 87.4% reported a high likeliness to participate in continuing education (CE) or advanced degrees via the Internet; 79% did not feel being on campus was important; and 68% were reimbursed for continuing education costs.
