Webinars are rapidly changing the way we can share information on-line. What’s a webinar you ask…well until recently I didn’t know what one was either. Webinars are basically a power point presentation given on-line with the presenter’s voice heard as the commentary. Those joining in on a live webinar can also ask the presenter questions which makes it more interactive. Webinars can help ease the problem busy nurses face in trying to find the time to attend ward or hospital based training sessions, seminars or conferences.
An increasing number of nurses are having difficulty in being released from work to attend a conference or seminar and many have to self fund their registration fee, travel and accommodation expenses in order to stay up to date with their own professional development or stay abreast of any developments in their nursing specialty. Webinars offer a new alternative way of accessing up to date nursing information via presentations that can be viewed in the comfort of your own home (away from the hustle and bustle of the ward) and can even be replayed at a time that suits your schedule.
In my experience as a Registered Nurse for twenty one years nurses everywhere are getting busier and more stretched for time and such are finding it increasingly difficult to find the time to keep up to date. In Australia we are about to change from state based registration to national registration. It was interesting to read that one of the ways the national registration board is looking for nurses to maintain their continuing professional portfolio is via on-line learning. So nursing as a profession in Australia is looking to the internet as a means for nurses to keep themselves up to date.
Seminars and conferences are nowadays attended by the lucky few (mostly hospital executives) and I believe they are virtually beyond the reach of the everyday ward nurse. As health budgets are tightened there is little to no money left over to fund staff nurses being released or the registration fees being paid by their employer for them to attend either a seminar or conference. With the onus now mostly resting on the individual nurse to self fund themselves or find a scholarship to be able to attend. I believe it is particularly difficult in the current tough economic climate for nurses to find the $500 to $2500 registration fee for a national conference let alone fund their own accommodation or travel expenses.
I believe that the new webinar technology can make the latest nursing educational presentations very accessible and affordable for nurses everywhere a broadband internet connection can be accessed. An ever increasing number of nurses nowadays have access to the internet with broadband speed and therefore can access a webinar and all would prefer to do this at home in their free time. Webinar technology is one I believe we as nurses should now embrace as a means of easily and conveniently keeping ourselves up to date and active in the nursing community and use this opportunity make connections and build nursing networks internationally to share our nursing knowledge, know-how, research findings and nursing innovations.
The advantages and benefits of webinars as a means of freeing up access to educational presentations is by no means limited to the nursing profession. Any group of professionals that looks to keep up to date with their professional development should investigate their potential.
Tags: national conferences