Breaking the Distance Barrier: Educating Professionals Where They Practice

Many states face nursing shortages that impact quality of life, especially in rural areas. By providing advanced educational opportunities to nurses who practice in rural areas, communities benefit from improved health care services and nurses develop communities of scholarship and professional practice that ameliorate feelings of isolation. This session will outline the steps taken to launch a new nursing program aimed to provide all students, both urban and rural, equal educational opportunity. The lessons learned technically and educationally using Adobe Connect, Sakai, and FreeConference.com will be shared, along with a variety of materials developed specifically for the program's launch.