---
title: "Here’s The Current Landscape of Nursing Education"
url: "https://arizonacollege.edu/blog/landscape-of-nursing-education/"
type: post
date_published: 2024-09-05
date_modified: 2025-08-01
schema:
  @type: Article
language: en-US
word_count: 1639
reading_time: 9 min
canonical: "https://arizonacollege.edu/blog/landscape-of-nursing-education/"
featured_image: "https://arizonacollege.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Nursing-Program-Student-on-campus-in-lab.jpg"
categories:
  - Newsroom
---

# Here’s The Current Landscape of Nursing Education

![Nursing Program Student on campus in lab](https://arizonacollege.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Nursing-Program-Student-on-campus-in-lab.jpg)

[**HealthLeaders**](https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/cno/heres-current-landscape-nursing-education)
, September 3, 2024
_Written by [G Hatfield](https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/users/g-hatfield), nursing editor for HealthLeaders_

Jason Dunne, Chief Academic Officer for
[Arizona College of Nursing](https://www.arizonacollege.edu/), discusses the
current nursing landscape with
[HealthLeaders Media](https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/).

---

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](https://www.arizonacollege.edu/) (AZCN), the
American Association of Colleges of Nursing
[(AACN) anticipates](https://www.aacnnursing.org/news-data/fact-sheets/nursing-shortage)
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](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/registered-nurses.htm#tab-6)
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.

![Janon Dunne](https://arizonacollege.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Janon-Dunne.jpg)![Janon Dunne](https://arizonacollege.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Janon-Dunne.jpg)
“The other piece that’s near and dear to my heart is nursing school enrollment
is not keeping pace with the demand for new nurses,” Dunne said. “So even with
the high interest in the profession, many qualified applicants across the
country are just not being admitted because there’s not enough spots for nursing
program applicants.”

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.

![Nursing School Student Preparing For NCLEX Exam](https://arizonacollege.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Nursing-School-Student-PReparing-For-NCLEX-Exam.jpg)![Nursing School Student Preparing For NCLEX Exam](https://arizonacollege.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Nursing-School-Student-PReparing-For-NCLEX-Exam.jpg)
Dunne explained how the use of high-fidelity simulation and new mannequins alone
has shifted nursing education tremendously by mimicking human situations and
experiences. Online learning, virtual reality, AI, and virtual science labs are
also on the rise, which warrants an increase in data literacy education.

“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.”

![Nursing School Teacher in classroom](https://arizonacollege.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/teacher3.jpg)![Nursing School Teacher in classroom](https://arizonacollege.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/teacher3.jpg)
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._

**Categories:** Newsroom