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Increased demand for nurses and improved technology have increased the development and popularity of online education programs over the past two decades; however, the online format has revealed numerous pedagogical and implementation challenges. One primary challenge is the lack of structural design standards across all courses in the program. The lack of standardization is linked to decreased student outcomes, satisfaction, and retention. The Quality Matters course design rubric and program certification provide a methodical process to standardize the format of all courses in an online education program. The Quality Matters course rubric is designed to increase student and faculty engagement and reduce variability in course design. At the current university, the application of Quality Matters processes and standards was first trialed with a few individual courses. Following the trial, faculty and administration decided to begin the process of seeking Quality Matters certification for the entire registered nurse–bachelor of science in nursing program. This article describes the process of attaining Quality Matters program certification for an online registered nurse–bachelor of science in nursing program. The nursing process and the Human Performance Technology evaluation model were used as appraisal frameworks guiding this program's QM certification process.

Family caregiving is an essential, yet understudied, factor that can hasten, delay, or prevent hospital readmissions in individuals with cognitive deficits. This 3-month feasibility study examined 18 Internet-based educational CARREs (Communicate, Assist, Recognize & Report Events) Modules for family caregivers that address care recipients’ potentially avoidable hospitalization (PAH) conditions, e.g. UTI. This study determined: 1) caregivers’ perceptions about the use of the CARREs Modules, 2) caregivers’ self-reported value of the Modules, and 3) potential outcomes for caregivers and care recipients. Community-dwelling family caregivers were recruited from local support/education programs and assigned 6-8 Modules based on their care recipients’ needs. Links to online surveys were emailed at baseline, and 30 and 90 days post-enrollment. Descriptive statistics were performed on these data. Twenty potential subjects were screened but five were ineligible and three refused to participate. The remaining 12 subjects were primarily White females caring for a husband or parent. Subjects completed all the Modules they were assigned and did not experience any difficulties answering the survey questions. Subjects reported completing the Modules at least moderately increased their knowledge (67%), not being burdened by completing the Modules (67%), and very likely to participate again (58%). Many subjects stated the Modules taught them new things about preventing hospital readmissions in their care recipient (75%) and improved their well-being as a caregiver (83%). In collaboration with a home care agency, the investigators plan to implement and test a sustainable, “real-world” educational intervention incorporating the CARREs Modules that reaches a wide audience of family caregivers.