The labor bureau estimated that there will be a need for 580,000 nurses by 2018 due to nurses retiring (AACN, 2010). Colleges are working hard to try to fill this void by offering several programs that fits the needs of today’s students and returning nurses. There are programs at colleges that start students on their path to become a nurse, and there are also professional study programs. Professional study programs help nurses go back to school to obtain a second or third degree. Nurses today do not have the time to return to a traditional face-to-face educational program for their higher education.

There's a specialist from your university waiting to help you with that essay.
Tell us what you need to have done now!


order now

With the staffing shortages felt in the workplace today, nurses usually have to work far more than their scheduled days to just get the minimum amount of staff on their unit required for it to function on a safe level. Nurses pursuing higher education usually choose online or distance learning to complete their degree. These programs allow for the student to work independently and on their own timeline. Online education allows students to maintain their full time job, and also advance in their careers by having a higher education. Some concerns have been brought up about students learning to become nurses through a web based program.

One concern is that you cannot teach a person how to be passionate, caring and empathetic when they are learning it from a computer. “One of the ways to keep the Humanity in online learning environment is to work with other students in small cohorts or in synchronous chat sessions with other students” (Mancuso-Murphy, 2007). Discussion boards have been a creation of the online community to get students to interact with each other. This compensates the programs for the loss of the personal human touch that would be found in a traditional program with a clinical curriculum.

The second concern of most when deciding on an online program versus a traditional program is accreditation. According to the US Department of Education, which does not accredit nursing schools but provides rationale for its purpose, “an educational program that is accredited has shown that they provide quality higher education according to standards set by a private regional or national accrediting agency. Accreditation is a peer review process that evaluates educational programs based upon agency-set criteria” (US Department of Education, 2011).

Students want to make sure that they are not spending several years in school to learn that the school that they attended is not accepted by their state nursing boards as a suitable educational program. The student’s state nursing boards can deny their request to take their licensure exam to become a nurse, and they can also be denied by other schools if they decide to pursue a higher education. If they attend a school that is not accredited then they may not be able to pursue a higher degree in nursing. The value of online education for nurses has increased in the last ten years.

Nurses are now realizing that more education can mean more money. Employers are also encouraging nurses to return to school to advance their career. Employers have noticed that higher educated nurses make less medication errors, and they are better at using their critical thinking skills. Employers are now offering to pay for higher education with a scholarship contract or tuition reimbursement. Nurses value online learning because it can offer them a fast and carefree way to become more valuable in their employers eyes. Online education is something that needs to be valued by people.

Education has made great strides in the ever changing quest of trying to get everyone educated. Online or distance learning helps people go back to school or start to school when that may have never been possible in a traditional classroom. Nurses see the value in having a fast and easy education environment in the online learning community. Their value is placed in online education because it helps them to maintain their current full time job and keep their home life in order. References Ainsley, B. , Brown, A. (2009). The Impact of Informatics on Nursing Education: A Review of the Literature.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *