REPORT: September 2006

Coming soon: eLeaRN

The online CE site for registered nurses

The growth of the Internet has spawned an entire new industry: continuing education available on your home computer, 24 hours a day.

eLeaRN, a new Web site sponsored by NYSNA, will offer the best in online CE at an affordable cost. It will debut in mid-October at www.elearnonline.net.

“NYSNA has been a nationally accredited provider of CE for nurses for 30 years,” said Ellen Ellis, RN, PhD, who plans CE activities for the association. “We have evolved from on-site workshops to videotapes and now to the Internet. It’s a new way to package information and it’s so convenient for students.”

Although there are many sites offering CE for nurses, Ellis said that eLeaRN will have an outstanding selection of courses written by nurses who are experts in their fields.

“The course offerings will be constantly expanding,” she said. “New courses will be created in response to current developments in health care and nursing, such as avian flu and bioterrorism.”

eLeaRN also will offer courses that nurses are required to take in New York and several other states, including Florida, Texas, Iowa, Kentucky, Oregon, and Washington. These courses currently are offered at the NYSNA Web site (www.nysna.org). “The site will have everything that’s now available on the NYSNA site, plus some new features,” Ellis said.

eLeaRN will be featured at the NYSNA Convention in October, where attendees will have an opportunity to get a sneak preview of the site and register for a prize drawing.

“Lifelong learning has always been a high priority for nurses,” said Ellis. “We expect that many of them will find what they’re looking for at eLeaRN.”