With a few clicks of a mouse, occupational health nurses and nursing students can now attend seminars co-sponsored by the Education and Research Center (ERC) and the Center for Continuing Professional Education (CCPE) at HSPH in the comfort of their own homes or offices, for free. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health partially funds the ERC.

The ERC and CCPE have just launched two online seminars at www.hsph.harvard.edu/nursing as a pilot program. Nurses and nursing students may register online and watch presentations, then complete an evaluation form. The evaluations will be used to fine-tune the site. Through watching the seminars and completing the evaluations, the occupational health nurses may receive continuing professional education credits.

The current seminars cover acute hand injuries and police officer and firefighter medical examinations.

"It is harder and harder for professionals to get away from their responsibilities in order to engage in continuing education," said David Christiani, director of the ERC and professor of occupational medicine and epidemiology in the Departments of Environmental Health and Epidemiology. "There has been a push in all of the occupational health and safety specialties for continuing education courses to go online. We are in sync with that idea. For professionals and students, it is beneficial to bring seminars to them digitally so that they can study at their convenience while deepening their knowledge."

Added David Shore, associate dean and executive director of CCPE, "The center is particularly delighted to work on this initiative as part of an overall strategy of increasing the channels of distribution by which the school delivers executive education and training programs."

For the past 17 years, the ERC has offered occupational health seminars at HSPH for professionals and students (The ERC offers multidisciplinary master's and doctoral programs for nurses in cooperation with Simmons Graduate School of Nursing in Boston).

Currently, Ann Backus, instructor in occupational health in the Department of Environmental Health, organizes weekly seminars at the school that are attended, on average, by more than a dozen professionals and students. Many of the attendees receive required credits for their participation.

"By giving people the convenience of online learning, we are hoping to reach a broader audience than we might usually get," said Lynn Fitzgerald, associate director of programming at CCPE, who helped organize the web site and overall initiative. The center will manage administrative processes.

Deane Eastwood, HSPH webmaster, designed the site. He was careful to include options for viewers with hardware and software of different capabilities. Visitors may choose between watching high-quality, streaming video of a presentation or viewing a static picture of the instructor; both options are accompanied by audio and slides. People can revisit the site anytime to review material or leave and return to the site at their convenience.

"This project is one example of the possibilities that online technologies offer to people who are interested in lifelong learning," said Eastwood. Initially targeting occupational health nurses and nursing students, the web site, if successful, may be expanded to include additional "select speakers who appeal broadly and address relevant topics," said Carol Somers, instructor and assistant director of the ERC Occupational Health Nursing Program and professor of occupational health nursing at Simmons College, who also helped organize the web site.

The web site is intended to complement, and not replace, experiences normally found on campus. "This web site is one more way health professionals can network with expert faculty and expand their occupational health skill set, " said Somers.