Healthcare changes quickly. New guidelines for care, research reports, emerging infectious diseases, sudden disasters, and changing professional practice issues bombard us every day.
How can we possibly keep up?
Traditional methods of nursing continuing education (CE) require an hour or more. Sometimes called “just in case” learning, these methods provide nurses with selected skills and information, just in case they will be needed. But if news is reported today that we need for better practice tomorrow, the Internet may be the best way to allow learning to occur when a professional most needs it – “just in time.[1–3]”
The American Nurses Credentialing Center, or ANCC, develops standards for nursing CE.[4] ANCC recently revised the rules and now allows shorter programs (less than 1 hour) to be accredited for nursing. This rule change means that “just in time” learning can now also be an important part of mandated requirements for CE.
Medscape now offers nurses partial CE hours through our Medscape Medical News service. By spending just 15 minutes each day, nurses can be assured of at least 1 ANCC contact hour each week.
This offering also identifies pharmacology content where applicable – important for nurse practitioners in states where prescriptive authority mandates such education.
I believe these daily summaries, based on the latest news in healthcare, are an ideal addition to nurses' learning, and I salute ANCC and Medscape for this innovative program.
That's my opinion. I'm Laurie Scudder, a nurse practitioner and Continuing Education Accreditation Coordinator at Medscape.
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Readers are encouraged to respond to George Lundberg, MD, Editor of MedGenMed, for the editor's eye only or for possible publication via email: glundberg@medscape.net
Contributor Information
Laurie Scudder, Nurse Practitioner Alternatives, Inc., Ellicott City, Maryland; George Washington University, Washington, DC; Medscape, New York, NY. Email: lscudder@medscape.net.
Susan Yox, Medscape Nurses, New York, NY.
References
- 1.Fordis M, King JE, Ballantyne CM, et al. Comparison of the instructional efficacy of internet-based CME with live interactive CME workshops. JAMA. 2005;294:1043–1051. doi: 10.1001/jama.294.9.1043. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 2.Green JS. A practical guide to integrating an outcomes-based learning model into your planning process. Alliance CME Almanac. 2006;28:1–5. [Google Scholar]
- 3.Yensen J. Just In Time Resources On Demand (JITROD) for nursing education. Online J Distance Learning Adm. 1998;1 Available at: http://www.westga.edu/~distance/yensen13.html Accessed January 10, 2006. [Google Scholar]
- 4.American Nurses Credentialing Center. Available at: http://www.nursingworld.org/ancc/ Accessed January 8, 2006.