Nursing education application of a computerized nursing expert system

Nurse educators are required to be knowledgeable about a wide variety of complex health care problems in order to provide quality education. At the same time, they are given a multitude of other responsibilities such as participating in scholarly activity, advising students, maintaining an active role in nursing practice, and performing community service. These educators must find innovative ways to present current lectures while at the same time meeting their other obligations. The use of Creighton Online Multiple Modular Expert System (COMMES), a computerized decision support consultant, was evaluated as a technique for faculty use in developing and organizing new lecture content. The study found that COMMES was beneficial as a systematic prompt for lecture content, as a tool for organizing content, and as a means to verify completeness of lecture material.