Online Nursing Education in Developing Countries

The history of nursing education is going back to ancient times when individuals learned to care for the sick and injured in their communities. However, modern nursing education began in the nineteenth century, when the first nursing schools were established. The initial milestone that catalyzed formal nursing education was the Civil War. Prior to the Civil War, most women provided nursing care to family at home; the nursing profession as it is known today has origins in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Online nursing education has a relatively short history, but it has quickly become an important part of nursing education and professional development. The first online nursing programs emerged in the late 1990s, as the Internet began to gain popularity as a means of delivering educational content. Online medical education plays an important role; nowadays, it provides many opportunities to the students and healthcare professionals. Importance of distance and online education has been increased during the last decades, especially after 2019. Online education and learning had/have great impact on the continuous teaching and learning cycle in medical education worldwide, saving the medical and health sciences schools from closing for at least one year because of lockdown after COVID-19 pandemic. This chapter covers the history, importance, advantages, and disadvantages of online nursing education. Moreover, it includes the achievements and challenges of online nursing education in the developing countries.