Abstract
Background: With the rapid growth in online education programs in nursing, quality of education through this modality is becoming of greater importance. Purpose: This paper aims to explore current recommendations and standards for quality in online nursing education offered by nursing regulatory, accrediting, and licensing organizations. Method: Individual interviews were conducted with the leaders from four accrediting, licensing and certifying organizations in nursing about their perspectives on quality standards for online education. Findings: The following themes emerged from the qualitative interviews: Theme 1- Standards are not specific to online education; Theme 2-This is not up to us - Professional organizations can offer recommendations but not responsible for regulations; and Theme 3- Each institution has responsibility to provide support and evaluate the quality of online education. Discussion: Schools of nursing should continue to incorporate current standards for quality in online education as the methods of delivery continue to evolve in this highly technologically-oriented world.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 747-759 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Nursing outlook |
| Volume | 67 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Nov 1 2019 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This article was prepared as part of the work of the Nurse Faculty for the Future program, which was funded by the Maryland Higher Education Commission ( NSP-II-17-107 ).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Authors
Keywords
- Accreditation
- Nursing education
- Online education
- Quality standards
