In the United States of America there are 4,000 certified WOC nurses. The WOC nurse provides specialized care and expertise for ostomy management and education. Since there are a limited number of WOC nurses, the staff nurse is a crucial person to manage the ostomy and educate the patient. The Scope of Practice of the registered nurse includes care and management of ostomies. A standardized method for insuring the educational level and competency of every nurse in the facility is important. Ostomy management skills are basic but may be infrequently used depending on The unit the nurse works on. Therefore, a curriculum for initial education and yearly competencies must be developed to maintain the knowledge nurses need regarding ostomy management and patient education.

The educational design must be chosen to accommodate the preferential leaning styles and the time restrains of the busy clinical nurse. Based on the evidence-based model, the effectiveness of the curriculum design and learning outcomes must be measured.

Thus, three curriculum designs will be developed for eventual evaluation by a research model. The three groups are as follows:

· Education via the classroom setting · Education via the computer-based program · Education via the computer-based program with a skills packet to practice changing ostomy and reviewing patient education

The hypotheses are as follows

1) The computer education is as effective as traditional classroom learning. 2) The computer education is enhanced by the addition of the motor-sensory exercise of placing on a pouch and visually reviewing the patient educational materials.

Conclusion: The design of the three curriculum programs and the research proposal will be presented. The actual results of the research will be presented at a later conference.