---
title: "Industry Voices—To address the nursing shortage, nurse education needs to evolve"
url: "https://arizonacollege.edu/blog/industry-voices-with-amber-kool/"
type: post
date_published: 2024-05-09
date_modified: 2025-08-01
schema:
  @type: Article
language: en-US
word_count: 938
reading_time: 5 min
canonical: "https://arizonacollege.edu/blog/industry-voices-with-amber-kool/"
featured_image: "https://arizonacollege.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Amber-Kool-headshot.jpg"
categories:
  - Newsroom
---

# Industry Voices—To address the nursing shortage, nurse education needs to evolve

_Amber Kool, Associate Provost, [Arizona College of Nursing](https://www.arizonacollege.edu/), shares how nursing education needs to evolve by promoting self-care as well as patient care, addressing the root causes of burnout, and work with clinical partners to ease the pressure on new nurses._

---

[**Fierce Healthcare**](https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/providers/industry-voices-address-nursing-shortage-nurse-education-needs-evolve)
, **Published May 2, 2024

_By Amber Kool_

Recent conversations about nursing typically focus on shortages, burnout, and
educating more nurses to support a rapidly aging population. While growing our
nursing workforce is important, we’re often missing a deeper conversation about
the future of nursing and how we train this new workforce in a way that sustains
and advances nursing for the long run. Without confronting the realities of
nursing and changes taking place in the field, we risk facing the same cycle of
burnout and shortages that holds back our healthcare system today. Innovative
solutions in nursing education are key to making lasting and healthy change,
ultimately driving a revolution in nursing care that meets the challenges of
both tomorrow and today.

I faced the challenges of nursing personally in a neonatal intensive care unit,
as well as other pediatric and psychiatric settings. Following that experience,
I transitioned into nurse education and eventually my current role as an
Associate Provost at Arizona College of Nursing (AZCN). I know firsthand the
profound impact education has on individual nurses and the whole profession.
Your training affects how you think on the job, react to new scenarios, and deal
with the stress of a challenging career. Solving nursing shortages and training
a nursing workforce ready for the future begins with how we approach nursing
education.

Preparing future nurses for the realities of the healthcare system means going
beyond the traditional teaching methods previous generations of nurses
experienced. A nursing degree is an intense course of study, combining everyday
clinical skills with physiology, pharmacology, specialty areas, and more. We
don’t need to cram in more knowledge—we need to make the most of students’ time
in school and graduate nurses who are truly ready for the job: the tough
decisions, emotions, stress, and more.

![Amber Kool, Associate Provost, Arizona College of Nursing](https://arizonacollege.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Amber-Kool-headshot.jpg)![Amber Kool, Associate Provost, Arizona College of Nursing](https://arizonacollege.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Amber-Kool-headshot.jpg)
Technology allows us to elevate the practical training students receive and
create room for students to grapple with real-life ethical decisions as they
learn. Nursing graduates need to be more than competent clinicians who can set
up an IV drip—they need to be adaptable and reflective practitioners. Some
nursing schools, including ours, now offer advanced simulation labs in which
students step into realistic work environments—from hospital rooms to home
care—and hone their practical skills in ways that mimic real physiological
responses. Before students ever rotate into a clinical setting, they can have
the opportunity to identify heart and lung symptoms, assist with childbirth,
identify a stroke, and other critical skills while leading their peers in active
clinical decision-making. Expanding the availability and use of these learning
opportunities is a must for nursing programs to prepare graduates more
holistically.

Nursing goes far beyond practical skills, though, as anyone who has relied on a
nurse to care for them or a loved one knows. Nurses are physically, mentally,
and emotionally invested in patient care, raising the stakes on the job beyond
what any college education can prepare you for. But, we as nurse educators have
to try. Nursing programs must include a focus on mental health and resilience,
including practical, proven strategies for nurses to manage pressure, loss, and
work-life balance. Having lived the job myself, I know the toll hard days can
take on you. Now as an educator, leaving that experience out of our curriculum
would feel like leaving out a crucial practical skill. Every student should
leave nursing school feeling equipped to care for themselves as well as their
patients.

Finally, we also need to recognize the role of nursing school itself in
contributing to burnout. It’s often said that many new nurses burn out after
just one year—but these graduates are entering a demanding and high-stress
workplace immediately after spending years in a challenging, high-stress nursing
program and studying for a difficult licensing exam. Burning out after “one
year” is a four or five-year story for most.

It is important to take a student-centric approach to learning that addresses
both personal and academic needs. Our goal cannot simply be producing capable,
licensed nurses, but to ensure graduates are not burned out before they even
start working. We cannot control what graduates face on the job, but we do have
an opportunity to break the cycle of burnout within our own programs.

Looking to the future, the need for innovation to address the nursing shortage
will only grow. Healthcare will continue to be disrupted by new technologies, an
aging population, and evolving patient needs. To keep pace, nursing education
must go beyond simply training more nurses. We need to promote self-care as well
as patient care, provide learning environments that provide opportunities to
hone skills before the clinical setting, address the root causes of burnout, and
work with clinical partners to ease the pressure on new nurses. Ultimately, the
task for us as educators is the same charge we place on nurses: we must care,
innovate, and lead as the world changes around us.

_Amber Kool, DNP, RN, is Associate Provost at Arizona College of Nursing._

**Categories:** Newsroom