Developing and Using Online Courses to Prepare Nurses for Employment in Critical Care

Abstract

In Brief Using online courses is one way to simplify orientation programs and leverage educator resources. Three critical care courses were created using a distributed authoring model with geographically diverse clinical experts. A companion online orientation course prepares preceptors to assist with clinical application. Course outcomes include preparation for practice, career mobility/advancement, and learner satisfaction. The authors describe the use of online courses in staff education, the design and development process, and a preceptor model and online preceptor orientation course used to support the courses.