An Evaluation Process to Redesign the North Carolina AHEC Registered Nurse Refresher Program

The North Carolina Area Health Education Center (NC AHEC) Registered Nurse (RN) Refresher Program maintains compliance with the North Carolina Board of Nursing regulations to ensure the safety of the public. The program is for nurses who have inactive or expired RN licenses or who wish to update their nursing skills. To modernize the program, faculty and staff from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill William and Ida Friday Center for Continuing Education, the University of North Carolina School of Nursing, and the NC AHEC Program Offices conducted an extensive program evaluation from 2014 through 2015 using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Framework for Program Evaluation in Public Health. A collaborative statewide team of experts subsequently developed a plan for a comprehensive program revision. The revision incorporated contemporary practice using evidence-based research, technology, quality and safety, and healthcare legislation as themes. In addition, the theory portion of the NC AHEC RN Refresher Program was redesigned and is now offered only online to better serve RNs in North Carolina, the United States, and English speakers across the world.