Trends in Nursing Education: Spring 2024 Findings

From the 2024 survey results, 42% of respondents identified the logistics of managing externships as their primary challenge, reflecting complexities in coordination and execution.

What are the contributing factors to this challenge? 

Here are some of the individual responses around externship logistics to answer that question:

• “Sites limiting student numbers, the amount of requirements for students to attend clinicals and they are different amongst sites.”
• “Lack of facilities to participate in instructor-led clinicals. Limit on the number of students allowed in a group. Day availability.”
• “Providing students with quality hands-on practice in a healthy environment.”

It’s clear the logistics of providing students with placement are wide-ranging and challenging for programs.

Additionally, we learned that 78% of respondents reported that sites are limiting the number of students per placement site in 2024 compared to 39% in 2022. That makes student limits a much larger challenge than competition against other schools for preceptors right now - though both were comparably chosen. Additionally, this increases costs to academic institutions requiring the hiring of additional clinical instructors to support fewer students on a unit. 

The utilization of high quality simulation in nursing education has seen a slight increase, indicating a growing acceptance and integration of this technology as a critical educational tool. In 2022, a substantial majority, 91% of respondents, reported utilizing high quality simulation in their programs. By 2024, this figure had risen modestly to 95%, suggesting a steady but slow progression in its adoption. Additionally, when asked via an open text response, survey respondents described the increased availability of Next Gen Resources, including advancements in simulations as one of the most positive trends in nursing education today.

These trends reflect an overall positive trajectory towards the normalization and potentially deeper integration of high quality simulation within nursing education curricula, supporting its critical role in enhancing clinical competence and preparedness among students. These trends also reflect the National Council of State Boards of Nursing’s recognition that high quality simulation is an acceptable replacement for direct patient care (Hayden, et al., 2012). 

In our 2022 survey, 61% indicated their programs were experiencing some level of decline related to finding preceptors. The two driving factors then impacting the decline across all respondents were competition with other programs and preceptors changing positions/ changes to their availability.

Fast forward to 2024, and the preceptor pool challenge isn’t getting any better, but also isn’t getting much worse, either. In 2022, 32% of respondents cited their preceptor pool was holding steady. In our survey this spring, 44% of respondents noted their pool is holding steady. 

Moreover, there was a notable decrease in respondents who reported a significant decline in preceptor participation, from 30% in 2022 to 12% in 2024. This reduction could indicate that while the overall challenge of securing preceptors persists, the rate of decline has slowed, suggesting that some of the measures implemented by educational institutions to mitigate this issue might be starting to take effect.

CORE has spoken at length in various articles and webinars about the need to explore more incentives for preceptor participation, including checking whether your school can offer preceptors CEUs or advertise tax credits that may be available through your state by nurses becoming preceptors.

It should be noted that while the preceptor pool may be holding steady, the level of experience of preceptors has changed in certain areas of the country.  There are more preceptors with less than 2 years of clinical practice experience available and less availability of the experienced seasoned nurse.

Click the video below to view a clip from the webinar, Improving the Preceptor and Academic Program Relationship to Increase Site Retention. The entire webinar recording can be accessed here.

In our survey, we sought to understand the primary concerns preceptors have regarding the nursing students they supervise. The data revealed that student preparedness remains a significant issue, with 26% of responses highlighting a deficiency in readiness for clinical environments.

Key Concerns: 

• Lack of Essential Skills: Preceptors noted that students often lack critical communication and employability skills, which are vital for effective functioning in clinical settings.
• Real-World Preparedness: There is a consensus among preceptors that students are not as well-prepared for real-world clinical demands as they could be. This gap affects their ability to integrate seamlessly into clinical teams.
• Time Constraints and Educational Challenges: Preceptors frequently cited their limited time availability as a major barrier to providing thorough, hands-on instruction. This issue is compounded by the need for adequate compensation for their time and efforts, particularly noted among MSN-NP/DNP preceptors.

Additionally, inconsistency in clinical faculty—often attributed to turnover due to better-paying opportunities—impacts the continuity and quality of clinical education.

Resource Constraints at Clinical Sites: Clinical sites are often overwhelmed by the volume of student placements they are requested to accommodate, which can lead to scenarios where there are too many students and not enough preceptor time to go around. This overcrowding can dilute the learning experience for students and strain resources at clinical facilities.

These findings underscore the need for educational programs to enhance the preparation of nursing students to meet the demands of clinical practice.

We encourage you to download the whitepaper to discover additional insights including enrollment trends, IPE requirements and tracking, hybrid learning, changes in coursework and so much more.

This white paper is meant to give you a well-informed, peer-to-peer resource as you assess the unique challenges of your program. It is our hope that the findings presented herein will resonate with your own experiences and observations within your academic environment. 

If you are looking for ways to optimize your clinical education processes, we're here to help!