Expert Interviews, Guides & Advocacy Issues in Nursing

Coined in 2019 by the Nursing Executive Centre of the Advisory Board, the experience-complexity gap describes the dangerously widening difference between the average nurse’s knowledge today and the rapidly increasing complexity of the patients they serve and the technology they must oversee. Put simply, patients have never been sicker, the technology required to keep them alive has never been more involved, and the nurses overseeing their care have never been less knowledgeable and experienced–through no fault of their own.

It’s clear that what these executives fear most is not the actual cost of paying travel nurses but rather what that cost signifies. Nurses who know their worth and demand competitive compensation packages and workplace safety measures are a threat to the system at large, and they will do anything to protect the status quo because it’s working perfectly for them.

Nurse educators are highly skilled licensed RNs who train nursing students and provide ongoing education for professional nurses. They can be found in various settings, such as universities, community colleges, trade schools, and hospitals. A nurse educator is an informal term for RNs who oversee training programs, teach nursing in both clinical and classroom settings, and offer guidance to students at all levels of the nursing field.

Transitioning from nursing school into clinical practice has always challenged new nurses. According to one study published in Nursing Economics, 17 percent of new graduate nurses leave the profession entirely within one year. To combat this trend, hospitals and nursing education organizations have created new graduate nurse residency programs to serve as a bridge between the classroom and the hospital, better-supporting nurses and making the process easier and less daunting.

Under popular value-based care models, nursing rates are wrapped into the bigger hospital bill, making their contributions to business revenue invisible. Hospitals are rewarded for understaffing nurses because nurses are viewed as a cost in this financial model–no different than the gauze they use to wrap a wound or the IV pool they hang medications on.

We are thrilled to announce that the winner of this year’s NursingColleges.com Scholarship is Nakisha Dyson, a deserving graduate from St. Ambrose University. Nakisha graduated in May as a registered nurse with a bachelor’s degree in science through an accredited online program at St. Ambrose University. Her application stood out for its depth, originality, and a passionate commitment to the nursing profession.

Despite Nightingale’s beliefs that nursing was the duty of “proper ladies,” the dire need for skilled nursing care led to the proliferation of nursing programs that predominately served poor and working-class women who wanted a respectable profession. In fact, nursing education in America was founded in part to empower and employ lower-class women.

Advocacy is woven deeply into the nurse practitioner role. It’s a part of the job that’s never finished. Advocacy can occur at a micro level, by advocating one-on-one for a particular patient, or at the macro level, by lobbying for policy changes; it’s often a mix of the two. For many NPs, advocacy is about an issue close to their heart, one connected to underserved patients who deserve additional support. For two NP experts, the issue is children and youth in foster care.

Advocacy is woven deeply into the nurse practitioner (NP) role. It’s a part of the job that’s never finished. Advocacy can occur at a micro level, by advocating one-on-one for a particular patient, or at the macro level, by lobbying for policy changes; it’s often a mix of the two. For many NPs, advocacy concerns a particular issue close to their heart, one connected to underserved patients who deserve additional support. For Dr. Felesia Brown, the issue is health equity.

Travel nursing normally occurs in hospitals with critical nursing shortages and high-demand specialties. A travel nursing assignment allows nurses to build their skills and explore the country while increasing pay.