Increasing website use for provision of nursing contact hour programming

Abstract

There are continual changes in healthcare research, delivery, equipment and standards. These changes lead to the need for a focus on provision of nursing education to staff to assure safe delivery of quality patient care. However, cost factors, staffing limitations and availability of presenters are but a few factors that challenge the classroom delivery mechanism for nursing professional development. Use of nursing continuing education websites that can be individualized to meet the needs of each organization should be considered. This article reflects one academic Midwestern academic medical center’s journey to establish a website for this use. Websites are now a familiar methodology among nurses and can overcome many hurdles in making quality, cost effective educational programs easily available while still meeting continuing education guidelines and organizational needs.