Expert systems as computer assisted instruction systems for nursing education and training.

The ever-increasing specialization of nursing care may require nursing professionals to provide nursing care outside of their specialty. Nurses will have to familiarize themselves with a new specialization area at short notice. Fortunately, expert-systems technology can prove particularly helpful in achieving this familiarity. As such, this technology can prove a valuable tool for education and training of nursing professionals and students. This article describes the unique edge that expert systems technology provides in this context. Using VP-Expert, an expert system shell, the authors present two examples to illustrate the development of a computer aided instruction system and the unique benefits such a system offers.