Design of online adult teaching/learning of health care reform and health maintenance in the community for RN-BSN-MSN professional nursing degree students throughout the country

The Affordable Care Act and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Report of October 2010, The Future of Nursing expressly identify the leadership role of the profession of nursing in health prevention and health maintenance in the community. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) requires that by 2020 eighty percent of professional nurses have their Baccalaureate degree in nursing. Presently 65 percent of nurses in this country are educated and practicing at the technical associate degree level. With the present economy, it is rarely feasible that nurses wanting and needing higher degrees can attend graduate programs geographically suitable to their schedules. The increasing proliferation of online higher education programs helps meet this societal need, however, the necessity of quality education of nurses in professional degree programs in professional behavior and health care reform is an immediate and will be an ongoing need for society. Virtually all online students multi-task with full-time jobs, family, and community commitments, and are now returning to school. This presentation addresses how nurses going back to school through online adult teaching/learning can internalize what the distinction is between technical and professional education through Professional Behaviors, and most important, the vital role and leadership responsibility of the profession of nursing in health care reform, the essential elements, prevention and health maintenance in the community.