The website that was chosen is NursingWorld, which is the official website of the American Nurses Association (ANA). The purpose of NursingWorld is to offer an interaction platform for ANA and its members. The site is also used for the recruitment of new members who wish to join ANA. Google search engine was used to locate the website by perusing for favorite nursing websites. The domain of the website is www.nursingworld.org. The website was chosen on the basis of being one of the most visited nursing websites in the world. The website was also chosen given the fact that it is used for diverse functions that relate to nursing issues. The “uniform resource locator” for NursingWorld.
The website has varying pieces of information that are helpful for nurses and other interested parties. The website has information regarding nursing career as well as professional development in diverse fields. The website also provides nurses with information regarding ethical practice in different areas of their work including genetics and genomics. Through the website, nurses can access information regarding workplace safety including how to handle patients, how to avoid needle-sticks and environmental hazards. The website also covers policy and advocacy issues for nurses.
The website has authority in addressing nursing issues given that the material that is included on the website is peer reviewed. The authority of the website is also derived from the fact that the website’s content is managed by an organization that has the interest of nurses at heart. The website is objective in that it covers nursing related issues. The objectivity of the website also rests on the fact that the website carries peer-reviewed materials that do not lean on any side of the agendas covered. The website does not allocate any adverts that are not related to ANA activities thus shielding it from influence from parties focusing on profiting from web content.
The website is easy to navigate given that it has clearly labeled tabs. The ease of navigation is also enhanced by the fact that the display is user-friendly. The website is easy to use given that there are limited writings on the first interface. Most of the information is accessed by clicking the tabs that are on the first interface of the website. The website ensures that there is privacy for the members of ANA. The privacy is enhanced by the fact that members are given passwords that enable them to access most of the resources on the website. The security policies of the website limit the accessibility of the resources to nurses and nursing students. Other users who are not in the nursing field are required to pay a membership fee and submit their details to enable identification.
NursingWorld is a credible source of information and resources for nurses. The materials and information that is featured on the website is peer reviewed. Peer reviewed information is reliable given that it has to measure up to existing academic knowledge. The fact that the website offers contact information for readers to raise issues or contribute to the dialog also bolsters the credibility of the website (Williams, 2012). The URL of the website also indicates reputable affiliation in the nursing world. The inclusion of information is based on authenticity and is geared towards growing nursing as a profession. The website carries current and accurate information that is accompanied by URLs that direct readers to the main sources of material, especially for secondary information (Aselton, 2012). The pages of the website indicate the date when the update was made, further ensuring that readers can discern the time when the material was first published.
It is critical for professional nurses to evaluate information that is obtained from the internet. Information that is presented online tends to pass through the traditional methods that are used to sieve academic contents. According Hoerger and Currell (2012), the internet is awash with people who are focused on taking advantage of the billions of dollars that result from running online businesses. It is relatively impossible to regulate content that is presented on the internet hence a reader has to discern the authenticity of the content that is being provided. Even credible healthcare organizations are getting entangled in providing half-baked information in attempts to make money.
Nurses, who access the NursingWorld website, can use the information in different ways. The information can be used by nurses to help them grow their leadership skills in the profession. The website has a special section that contains information for nurse managers (Miller, Graves, Jones, & Sievert, 2010). Nurses can use the information on the website to conduct research on different issues that afflict the nursing profession. The website has a section that directs one to an online journal that is peer reviewed. Nurses can also use the information that is available to conduct advocacy on nursing related issues.
However, it is important for nurses to evaluate the content that is available on different websites that cover nursing related issues. It is important for one to critique websites based on the ease of accessibility, the organization of the content as well as the objectivity of the website (Thede, & Sewell, 2010). Carrying out due diligence on websites before using the available materials is critical in ensuring that the nursing profession is protected from non-academic materials.
References
Aselton, P. (2012). Using the Internet for Qualitative Research in Nursing. Scientific Reports, 1(1), 126.
Hoerger, M., & Currell, C. (2012). Ethical issues in internet research. In S. Knapp, M. Gottlieb, M. Handelsman, & L. VandeCreek (Eds.), APA Handbook of ethics in psychology (Vol. 2): Practice, teaching, and research (pp. 385-400). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Miller, L., Graves, R., Jones, B., & Sievert, M. (2010). Beyond Google: Finding and Evaluating Web-Based Information for Community-Based Nursing Practice. International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship, 7(1), 31.
Thede, L. & Sewell, J. (2010). Informatics and nursing competencies and applications. Philadelphia: Lippincott and Williams.
Williams, S. (2012). The Ethics of Internet Research. Online Journal of Nursing Informatics, 16(2). Web.