In light of the economic climate in today’s health care setting, many organizations have curtailed offering their own continuing education (CE) programs and have turned to purchased on-line programs. These packaged programs often offer unlimited ANCC approved CE offerings at a reasonable cost. Many organizations have made the transition from lecture situations to on-line CE offerings to save money and avoid the drain on resources. In addition, relieving nurses from bedside care to attend offerings proves to be a challenge. Many of the on-line programs involve contemporary nursing practice on disease processes and application of patient assessment is integrated into the text. The individual offerings are modeled on evidence based practice and advance the practitioners knowledge and application. This type of delivery also tests knowledge level as opposed to an actual live CE presentation which usually only evaluates satisfaction level. In addition, besides an endless variety of topics, CE on-line programs offer convenience as they can be taken at any location, and at any time of the day or night. By blending this approach with hands on experiences, the nurse can enhance his/her own practice. Though this type of education is not for everyone, I think we will continue to see this method of computer education increasing.
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