A community-wide RN refresher course: a collaborative success

By combining forces, nurse educators and practitioners developed a unique RN refresher course that provided a supportive environment for successful reentry into professional nursing practice. Nursing faculty and administrators from a baccalaureate nursing program collaborated with nursing clinicians from seven acute care hospitals to meet the assessed needs of community nurses for reentry programs. The collaborative effort provided accessible courses at lower costs with qualified faculty and a variety of clinical practice experiences for nurses areawide. This article describes the planning, development, implementation, and analysis of this successful areawide RN refresher course.