E-Learning in Health

Health professionals are working in a technology driven workplace, there are high expectations that nurses develop skills in information and communication technologies (ICT); (Connecting for Health, 2008). E-Learning has a significant role to play in the future direction of nurse CPD within the organisation, with constraints on funding for staff development activities (Rivers, 2007), together with the increased promotion of self directed learning within CPD activities and an increase in digitised resources being made available online via inter and intranet, investigation into this area of professional development within the organisation is essential. Given the demands for an IT literate workforce within the NHS the author considers e-Learning to be a valuable medium for CPD activities and recognised a need for further exploration in this area of continuing practice development.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) require nurses to continually update themselves through CPD, commonly referred to as PREP (Post Registration Education and Practice) (NMC, 2008b). This poses a particular challenge in today's workplace where there are fewer funds available to meet the demands of the diverse range of staff development required, budgets are frequently set aside to provide little other than the 'mandatory' training and as a result nurses often perceive the need to self fund 'non compulsory' CPD activities (Rivers, 2007). Additionally nurses also face the challenge of finding time to update, being released from practice is often a challenge; these challenges were recognised by Bahn (2007) in her study into nurse orientation towards engaging in formal and informal learning within continuing education and lifelong learning. Regarding access to e-Learning in the workplace, Wright & Bingham present several barriers: "workforce reticence to the use of ICT for learning, combined with lack of basic ICT skills, the limitations of local IT infrastructures, and lack of staff...