Prioritising a learning culture for nurses of the future is key to improving patient care: opinion

The role of nurses is steadily evolving, with greater involvement required in diagnosing and prescribing treatments and keeping up with new administration demands and policy changes. Workloads –  and stress levels – have also increased.

With the turmoil of the global pandemic, training was either put on hold, rushed or moved online. Many nurses found they lacked guidance and doubted their ability to provide proper patient care.

Little wonder, then, that the retention of nurses has been so low.

Tim Morris, Interim Commercial Clinical Solutions EMEALAAP Lead for Elsevier reveals findings from a recent Ipsos study and examines how training can help student nurses and returning nurses cope better and learn new skills. After all, part of WHO’s global patient safety action plan 2021-2030 highlights the need for a global approach towards comprehensive training to build competencies.

Where do the answers lie in helping nurses be practice-ready and stay current? Bite-sized update sessions and being trained to use newer digital tools are some of the solutions, believes Morris.

After all, an environment that values lifelong learning is also one that values nurses and quality of patient care.