Redesign of clinical nurse specialist role course for distance education. Development, implementation, and outcomes

The purpose of this article is to describe a collaborative effort to redesign a clinical nurse specialist curriculum for distance education among 4 regional state universities in southern Louisiana. The multisite approach was implemented to increase access to educational opportunities in advanced practice nursing for location-bound professional nurses. Course development, challenges to implementation, and success of the redesign are discussed. Additional topics described are online technical requirements and strategies for role socialization through distance learning. Success of the effort included an enhanced ability to recruit students to this specialty area.