Stirling Launches E-Learning for Nurses

Stirling University in Scotland has launched a new Internet training course targeted at former nurses looking to return to the profession.

The website and e-learning modules, developed by academics at Stirling University, is designed to help tackle the nation’s nursing shortage – one of the biggest challenges facing the NHS.

It is hoped that the new website will make it as easy as possible for those who have left the profession to update their training, and make it easier for nurses to update their skills and knowledge while working.

The new online course covers all theoretical aspects of training and is designed to compliment the highly popular residential nursing courses run by the university, which are heavily over-subscribed.

Students following the course will be able carry out the theoretical aspects of their training online, and then carry out the practical part of the course in work placements in their home area.

All nurses who successfully pass the course will automatically rejoin the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s Professional Register, and then have the option of going on to study for a degree in nursing.

"The new course will be accessible to nurses living in remote or rural areas who have so far been unable to fit studying into their work and private lives,” commented Isobel Chisholm, nursing lecturer at Stirling University.

She added: “We expect this course to be in high demand. Our equivalent residential course has always been over-subscribed and the on-line delivery will make it accessible to nurses living in remote or rural areas who have so far been unable to fit studying into their busy work and private lives.”

The project won a £10,000 Innovation Award from Stirling University Research and Enterprise (SURE) in April 2003.