The tremendous advances in information technology have necessitated the need for professional nursing associations to maintain websites where they can communicate with their members and the general public. This paper is a comprehensive review of the pros and cons of the American Nurses Association website, www.nursingworl.org.
The website facilitates lifelong learning and professional development for nurses. It achieves this by fostering easy access to a resource library, learning events, and professional networks. The website learning resources include continuing education units in form of online courses and other formats such as PDF files that can be downloaded easily from the site. The site also provides access to peer-reviewed articles and comprehensive information about the nursing profession as well as fact sheets and tool kits for guiding nurses in their everyday practice. Other learning resources available at the site include books and newsletters. Learning events available through the website include seminars, forums, webinars, and learning voyages. Professional networks available through the site enable nurses to interact with their colleagues from different parts of the world and exchange information, ideas, and solutions. In essence, therefore, it helps to keep nurses abreast with the latest developments and issues in nursing.
The career center section of the site helps to link nurses looking for work with potential employers. It also offers them important tips on how to write resumes, look for jobs, and to communicate during an interview amongst other things. The site comprehensively addresses a wide-range of nursing related issues such as career and credentialing, ethics and professional standards, health and safety, practice, and policy and advocacy. The site additionally caters for different cadres of nurses such as advanced practice nurses, staff nurses, nurse researchers, nurse educators, nurse managers, and nursing students.
On the features of the site, it contains a frequently asked questions (FAQ) section where individuals can easily obtain information on various issues. The site does not require one to have advanced hardware and software tools to access information. The various sections of the site can be easily accessed via clicking on the appropriate link. The site map is, however, relatively shallow in comparison to the depth of information the site provides. As such, the task of navigating the site may prove arduous to persons with little internet know how. This aspect is critical considering that research has established that lack of knowledge on how to effectively conduct internet searches is one of the factors that limit the utilization of evidence-based knowledge by nurses. The information contained in the web site is current indicating that the website is updated on a regular basis.
In conclusion, the site www.nursingworld.org, is a useful resource for nurses seeking to pursue lifelong learning and professional development. It’s also a useful communication tool for the ANA. Its features enable easy access to its contents. The site map is, however, inadequate in view of the numerous information it contains.
References
American Nurses Association (2013). Nursing world. Retrieved from http://www.nursingworld.org
