Keywords

Distance education, Nurses and computers, Nursing education in China, Internet access

 

Authors

  1. CRAGG, C. E. (BETTY) RN, EdD
  2. EDWARDS, NANCY RN, PhD
  3. YUE, ZHAO RN, MScN
  4. XIN, SONG LI RN, MScN
  5. HUI, ZOU DAO RN

Abstract

To increase continuing education accessibility, nurses around the world are turning to Web-based instruction. However, for Internet education to be successful, particularly in developing countries, nurses must have access to computers and the Internet as well as positive attitudes toward this form of learning. As part of a distance education project for nurses of the Tianjin Municipality in China, a survey of nurses was conducted to examine their sources of professional knowledge as well as their computer and Internet access and attitudes. The attitudes of the nurses were generally positive, and there was evidence of rapidly increasing use of and access to computers and the Internet. This article reports the results of that survey and their implications for Web-based teaching of Chinese nurses.