The Nursing Education Standards emphasize continuing education for nurses. In other words, an initial degree and training does not constitute as adequate grounds for continuing as a nurse practitioner. More education is needed. Thus, the education standards underscore continuing education in the form of online learning and intensive courses. This impacts the curriculum and evaluation of education immensely.
In the first place, the continuing education initiatives demand creative and untraditional material and methods. The curriculum of standard textbooks and lectures might not fit with the online environment, for example. A nurse might need to learn therapeutic skills a few years into his or her profession but cannot attend a traditional onsite classroom. Thus, the online context, provides a convenient means for continuing education. However, it cannot facilitate all of the curriculum used by most health educators, and therefore demands creativity and innovation.
In the second place, the documents from the nursing standards website reveal the effect of continuing education on evaluation. Since education is an ongoing process that can begin later in a nursing career, the assessments involve more flexibility and a large scope. It seems that a “standard” student for such a program does not appear quite as typically as it used to. So evaluators must now attend not only to students in different positions in life but those with varying experience and former training. A nurse having served twenty years might have undergone and entirely different training program than the nurse two years out of school. Furthermore, the online provisions require the evaluator to assess a new style of teaching and learning. In short, the documents in the nursing education standards reflect an emphasis on continuing education. This impacts curriculum and evaluation by posing a new challenge that demands creativity, innovation, and rigorous thought.
- “Professional Role Competence: ANA Position Statement.” (2008). American Nurses Association: Education. Retrieved from http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ThePracticeofProfessionalNursing/NursingEducation
- “ANA Nurse CE.” (2008). American Nurses Association: Education. Retrieved from http://ananursece.healthstream.com
