A Foundational eHealth Educational Program to Support Nursing's Adoption of eHealth for Quality Patient Care

The Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO), is leading a project to provide nurses with the knowledge, skills and confidence to contribute to eHealth and informatics policy making and become fully engaged in using eHealth in their practice. The project, funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care has achieved a number of outcomes including a foundational eHealth education program for nurses.

The program was developed with wide input from curriculum and informatics experts to address the expressed needs of nurses as they meet the challenges of working with increasing technology and information in health care today. The overall program goal is to provide comprehensive foundational information about eHealth for nurses to support the nursing role and quality care. The program's ten modules each address a key issue in eHealth including confidentiality and privacy, eHealth and quality care, eHealth and its impact on nursing work, eHealth and technology, eHealth and professional issues and the eHealth agenda in Ontario and Canada. The program's web based format allows for increased accessibility, engaging interactivity, and reinforcement of key concepts through stories, pre and post testing, examples and reflection opportunities. While the program is presented as a foundational tool, the many opportunities for linking to additional resources makes it useful to a wide range of participants.

This presentation will provide an overview of the major curriculum elements, describe and demonstrate key program features, and address outcomes related to the program's use by nurses and others over a 6 month period.