Explains the effects and potential problems of decentralization on a nursing education department. Suggests solutions that can be adapted to a particular setting. Indicates a need for flexibility in program planning. (JOW)

Describes Continuing Professional Education by Appointment, a service developed and implemented at the School of Nursing at the State University of New York at Stony Brook to assist continuing educators to meet ongoing educational needs of health care professionals. (JOW)

In educational consultation, responsibility for identifying and refining problems and modifying solutions remains with the consultee. Five steps of consultation are gaining entry, identifying the problem, engaging in action planning, evaluating, and disengaging. Consultant and consultee are in a nonhierarchical relationship. (SK)

Nurses need critical thinking to make sound clinical judgments. Identifying critical thinking dispositions during employee orientation can help individualize orientation programs that nurture critical thinking in clinical practice. (SK)

Needs assessments are considered necessary in decision making about programing. Large, formally planned assessments are expensive and are not justifiable if the results are no better than those obtained by other methods of uncovering learning deficits. (JOW)

Discusses the rationale for the action taken in 1974 by the House of Delegates of the American Nurses Association (ANA) which gave authority for accreditation of continuing education by ANA. (JOW)

Discusses the mechanism developed by the American Nurses Association to allow private providers to apply for accreditation of their continuing education programs. (JOW)

A postgraduate course on palliative nursing includes four class sessions and four peer review meetings in which students discuss case studies and assignments. The course is intended to prepare nurses for the bureaucratic, biomedical, social-therapeutic, and informal roles of terminal care. (SK)

A reciprocal partnership was developed among four continuing-education providers in Wisconsin. Members collaborated in developing programs to address the needs of nurses moving from acute care into community nursing. The collaborative approach enhanced the quality of the program and reached a wider audience. (JOW)

A situated learning model was applied in a workshop on nursing research in order to provide a multifaceted, engaging learning experience. Techniques used included stories, reflection, cognitive apprenticeship, collaboration, coaching, multiple practice, articulation of learning skills, and technology. (SK)

Nursing history since 1853 is presented to identify issues in continuing nursing education, such as the influence of feminism and professionalism, changing constituencies, and philosophies in health care. (SK)

Discusses the proliferation of continuing education programs in nursing and describes five local programs. Examines the needs assessment approach and applicability in the five programs and includes an assessment of the evaluation processes used. (JOW)

Identifies factors that limit the effectiveness of pretests and posttests as evaluation methods and examines how they might influence obtained results. (JOW)

Explores ways of presenting content and of fostering the grounding of the planned change process within the nurse's previous experience, value system, and personal characteristics. States that teaching strategies that combine experiential exercises with theory can make planned change meaningful and valuable to nurses. (NRJ)

Discusses the merits of professional accreditation of a continuing education program in nursing in a university or college. (JOW)