Insights from 30,000+ U.S. Nursing Students and Thousands of Faculty Demonstrate Sherpath AI's Capabilities to Improve the Nursing Education Experience

The U.S. nursing profession is increasingly focused on using Artificial Intelligence (AI), both in education and practice, to assist in tackling key hurdles facing the industry and one of the world’s largest patient populations. Many experts agree that addressing the current challenges begins at the education level. Elsevier's 2023 global survey, Clinician of the Future Education Edition, showed that 51% of students were using generative AI for their studies at that time. The Digital Education Council Global AI Student Survey released late last year now puts that number at 86%.

A key indication of this support is the latest customer insights from Sherpath AI, the first and most advanced generative AI (GAI) designed specifically for nursing students and faculty.

Sherpath AI is a groundbreaking advancement in nursing education that seamlessly integrates trusted nursing education content with GAI. Following the introduction of Sherpath AI with Sherpath courses in October 2024, more than 200 Elsevier Program Solutions institutional subscribers will gain access to Sherpath AI on February 24, 2025, expanding AI-enabled capabilities to more students and faculty.

Sherpath AI comes at a pivotal time. The U.S. is grappling with several pressing issues facing the nursing profession many of which are due to significant resource and capacity constraints at nursing institutions. Those issues pose considerable challenges for the field, namely extreme nursing shortages and a lack of clinical preparedness of graduating registered nurses, preventing the nation’s nursing programs from accepting enough students, and hindering progress on addressing critical priorities and challenges. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing recently reported that nearly 66,000 qualified nursing applicants were rejected from baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs due to insufficient faculty, clinical sites, classroom space, and clinical preceptors.

Sherpath AI was developed and engineered to help educational institutions overcome these challenges through:

• Personalized Learning: tailored AI-driven responses that accelerate student learning with information from Elsevier’s evidenced-based research and book content.

• Interactive Dialogue: students and educators can engage in a back-and-forth exchange of questions and answers using natural language, making the learning experience more engaging.

• Diverse Resources: users can access various types of content, such as Osmosis videos and interactive materials, catering to different learning styles.

• Faculty Support: the solution generates organized summaries, provides refreshers on less frequently taught content, supports course and lesson preparation and offers alternative ways to explain difficult concepts and much more.

Dena Lam, MSN candidate at Arizona State University said: “As a student in an accelerated Master of Science in Nursing program, there is an overwhelming amount of information and content for students to absorb in a short period of time. The use of AI tools like Sherpath AI not only help us consume the information but allow us to interact with the content and get precise and trusted answers to expert questions in moments. Sherpath AI has been instrumental in helping me understand complex information in a way that not only helps me excel in the program but also strengthens my foundation as a future nurse.”

Developed in collaboration with nursing faculty from across the country, Sherpath AI supports students and educators by simplifying tasks that would have once taken hours to complete, freeing up crucial time.

Amy M. Hall, PhD, RN, CNE, Professor & Dean School of Nursing at Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University said: "Sherpath AI is helping us transform the student and faculty experience and bridge gaps facing nursing education. Combining the latest technologies with our faculty expertise and Elsevier’s trusted content, we are customizing our students' learning to better address challenges facing our students and faculty. Through feedback from both faculty and students, it’s clear Sherpath AI is helping us better prepare our students for the clinical setting while assisting us in meeting the needs of tomorrow.”

The platform has already been tested by over 3,000 instructors and 35,000 students.

Brent Gordon, President, Nursing & Health Education at Elsevier Health said: "Concerns about the U.S. healthcare system are only growing. Sherpath AI directly addresses the pressing needs of the nursing education community by enhancing student engagement with course materials and increasing capacity and effectiveness in the face of faculty and institutional resource constraints. The numbers show that, when used responsibly, AI is helping expand the ability of institutions to make nurses practice-ready and increase the active nurse population globally.”

To learn more about Sherpath AI, please visit: https://www.elsevier.com/products/sherpath/sherpath-ai.

About Elsevier Health

For more than 140 years, Elsevier has supported the work of researchers and healthcare professionals by providing current, evidence-based information that can help empower students and clinicians to provide the best healthcare possible. Growing from our roots, Elsevier Health applies innovation, facilitates insights, and helps drive more informed decision-making for our customers across global health. We support health providers by providing accessible, trusted evidence-based information to take on the infodemic; prepare more future health professionals with effective tools and resources; provide insights that help clinicians improve patient outcomes; deliver healthcare that is truly inclusive; and supports a more personalized and localized healthcare experience.

Diversity and inclusion are the foundation of our innovation, and our teams are committed to creating education and practice solutions that reflect the diversity of our world. Elsevier Health is helping lay the groundwork for more equitable healthcare worldwide. We bring the same rigor to our digital information solutions as we do to our publishing, allowing us to offer knowledge and valuable analytics that help our users make breakthroughs and drive progress for the benefit of every patient.