HealthLeaders, September 3, 2024
Written by G Hatfield, nursing editor for HealthLeaders
Jason Dunne, Chief Academic Officer for Arizona College of Nursing, discusses the current nursing landscape with HealthLeaders Media.
Nursing education is evolving to accommodate new generations of nurses, says this nurse educator.
Key Takeaways
- Nursing schools must provide the proper curriculum for new graduate nurses so that they can enter the clinical environment equipped with the necessary skills for modern nursing.
- CNOs also must be aware of how nursing education is changing to accommodate the viewpoints and expectations of new generations.
- Nurse educators and nurse leaders should come together to be the unified voice and advocate for the nursing profession.
Amidst one of the largest workforce shortages in healthcare history, CNOs are looking for ways to recruit new graduate nurses now more than ever.
Many health systems are partnering with nursing schools and other academic institutions to help raise the next generation of nurses and create pipelines into the industry. CNOs need to stay up to date on the current state of nursing education to maximize the potential of incoming new graduate nurses.
There are several reasons for the nursing shortage, and according to Dr. Jason Dunne, chief academic officer at the Arizona College of Nursing (AZCN), the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) anticipates that 1,000,000 nurses will retire by 2030.
“At the same time, I think our population is aging and living longer, creating higher demands for nurses,” Dunne said, “and in recent years, the pandemic only exacerbated the situation, and many nurses opted to leave the profession early, unfortunately.”
Additionally, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) expects the nursing workforce to expand by 6% over the next 10 years, Dunne explained. Nurses are also experiencing high levels of burnout, which is also causing them to leave the profession.
Several factors are blocking students from enrolling in nursing programs, according to Dunne, including funding from the federal and state governments, and clinical availability. Nursing schools also struggle with recruiting faculty, specifically those who have at minimum a master’s degree.
“As students progress to the nursing program, they actually need clinical experiences and health systems to hone skills and be competent, so those are not as readily available as we’ve been moving forward,” Dunne said. “It sounds like a perfect storm as you think about the future of nursing.”
Preparing Career-Ready Nurses
Nursing schools must provide the proper curriculum for new graduate nurses so that they can enter the clinical environment equipped with the necessary skills for modern nursing.
To Dunne, there are a number of qualities that nurses must learn to ensure career longevity.
“One of the things that’s top of mind for me is critical thinking skills, which really forms the basis of how we approach situations in terms of analysis, integration, [and] prioritization,” Dunne said, “and that forms the foundation of this term called clinical judgment, which is an essential component of safe clinical practice.”
Nurses also need to understand the burnout risks associated with the position. According to Dunne, 52% of nurses are considering leaving their current position due to insufficient staffing. To combat burnout, it is essential that nurses learn self-care.
“[Nursing educators must help] new nurses understand what [self-care] means and really intentionally build it into a nursing curriculum,” Dunne said, “so folks out of the gate are understanding how to take care of themselves, [and] how to fill their cup.”
New graduate nurses must have an awareness and appreciation for patient diversity as well, said Dunne, since the world is diverse and culturally rich.
“That creates a level of complexity for nursing that nurses need to possess cultural competency,” Dunne said, “meaning having the skills and abilities and skillset to really take care of patients and their families from a variety of cultural backgrounds and settings.”
Communication and multitasking are other key components for new nurses as the industry continues to evolve.
“You don’t have to change careers to change your job,” Dunne said. “There’s so many diverse opportunities for nurses, you may get tired of one spot, [but] there’s so many opportunities for nurses to pursue other experiences.”
Evolving With New Generations
CNOs also must be aware of how nursing education is changing to accommodate the viewpoints and expectations of new generations. The integration of technology has shifted nursing education just as much as it has revolutionized the rest of the healthcare industry.
“Having these experiences for our students allows them to engage in patient care scenarios in a safe environment,” Dunne said, “really helping them to build the necessary clinical judgment skills that are essential for safe practice.”
Competency-based education is a concept that has gained momentum, according to Dunne.
“Now it’s [about] the demonstration of specific competencies, [and if] students are gaining the learning they need as they move forward,” Dunne said, “and many programs actually tailor education experiences to the individual student needs where they are.”
Interprofessional education has become front and center as well. Working with other members of the healthcare team has proved to be extremely beneficial, Dunne explained.
“Learning alongside each other, understanding roles [and] responsibilities as you get out into the healthcare world really helps to create great patient outcomes,” Dunne said.
Mental health and a focus on holistic patient care are also priorities in current nursing practice, along with the idea of lifelong learning. Generational differences also need to be addressed in nursing education, since new nurses prefer more collaborative and technological approaches to learning, Dunne explained. There is also a much stronger focus on ethics and social justice, in both nursing education and patient care.
“Healthcare continues to evolve and become more complex,” said Dunne, “so we’ve got to keep pace in order to provide safe, effective care to our patients.”
Bridging The Gaps
To fill spots in nursing programs, nursing schools need to tailor the academic experience to better suit the students as they move through the curriculum, Dunne said. Academic institutions must provide resources and remove obstacles, and remember that being a student is not as traditional as it used to be.
“The folks that we serve, they have families, jobs, children, other priorities, and it’s really important for nursing schools to help students navigate life so they can be successful academically,” Dunne said. “If we don’t help them build those life skills, academics is not even on the priority list.”
Nurse educators need to see the whole student, Dunne explained, and align their program’s mission values with the social justice values that nursing students care about.
“We at Arizona College sponsor students to be part of the National Black Nurses Association, the National Association of Hispanic Nurses,” Dunne said, “and we just want to create a culture where students are engaged and active members of the learning process.”
For CNOs, partnering with nurse educators and academic institutions to create pipelines into the industry is an essential component of sustaining the nursing workforce, Dunne stated.
“I believe schools need to work closely with clinical partners to ensure that curriculum and training aligns closely with the needs of the workforce,” Dunne said. “Nursing education, programs, [and] schools need to keep pace, so our students are workforce relevant.”
AZCN offers a BSN program at 20 campuses across 13 states, and is designed to prepare students for their careers as registered nurses. At each of these campuses across the country, they have community advisory boards that include the healthcare partners in each campus’ local community.
“These advisory boards are essential to creating those synergies between academic teams and the practice teams,” Dunne said, “to ensure lines of communication are open and also that we’re able to be responsive to the needs of our practice partners [with] how quickly health and health information [are] changing.”
Nurse residency programs, joint faculty appointments, mentorship between academia and practice, scholarships and grants, and tuition reimbursement programs are all ways that academic institutions and health systems can partner to recruit and retain more nurses.
Lastly, Dunne recommended that nurse educators and nurse leaders come together to be the unified voice and advocate for the nursing profession.
“As we know, nursing is a trusted profession,” Dunne said, “and we really need to continue to advocate for the needs of our nurses, short term as well as long term.”
G Hatfield is the nursing editor for HealthLeaders.
Information in this post is accurate as of .