Last year was my first time working with the World Health Organization (WHO) who were preparing the 2025 State of the World’s Nursing report at the time. This high-level report provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of the nursing workforce and includes a number of key policy priorities for nursing education, jobs/employment, service delivery and leadership.
I had the pleasure of working with one of the technical officers, Dr Carey McCarthy, based at the Health Workforce Department of the WHO to offer insights into and evidence on digital nursing education and practice. This helped formulate some of the policy recommendations in the 2025 report such as the need to design education programmes to include digital competencies for contemporary practice, and ensure faculty acquire competencies in the best pedagogical methods and technologies that facilitate student learning, professional development and patient care.
At King's, our award-winning simulated virtual placements are already providing students with a valuable opportunity to engage in digital health, offering a learning experience that mirrors the rapidly evolving healthcare landscape. These placements also enable students to develop key skills in telehealth, digital health and virtual care.
I was also able to advise the WHO on the use of artificial intelligence in nursing education as I conduct research on AI in nursing and run the AI Nurses Network, a clinical research network on AI in nursing. The use of AI is listed in one of the four key findings for nursing education in the WHO State of the World’s Nursing report. This new technological trend is reshaping how nurses plan, deliver and evaluate education at university and for the continuing professional development of the profession.
As nurses are the largest occupational group in healthcare globally, this WHO report launched on International Nurses Day, is an important milestone in providing validated data and evidence of the critical contribution nurses make to healthcare and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). I was honoured to be able to make a contribution to the State of the World’s Nursing report which will help drive country-level investments and actions in support of nurses providing essential life-saving services in health systems globally.