The traditional preceptor model was redesigned to support the well-being of preceptors while ensuring a meaningful orientation for Newly Licensed Nurses (NLNs). The rapid growth in NLN hiring created an unsustainable precepting environment necessitating a change. The Core Preceptor Model (CPM) was evaluated through surveys with NLNs and preceptors, orientation length, and precepting hours saved. The CPM provided a model to address our hiring growth in acute care while maintaining a high-quality orientation experience.

The ICU's widening experience-complexity gap leaves Newly Licensed Registered Nurses (NLRNs) with less mentorship and lower self-efficacy. This study evaluated an immersive virtual reality (IVR) training program to boost NLRN confidence in high-acuity bedside procedures. Using a quasi-experimental design, results showed significant improvements (p < .05) across all procedures, with participants highlighting realism, engagement, and interdisciplinary learning. Findings support IVR as an innovative, effective teaching tool to improve NLRN self-efficacy during their transition to practice.

The 2025 American Nurses Credentialling Center updates to Nursing Continuing Professional Development criteria strengthen educational design requirements. These standards provide a framework to create targeted, evidence-based learning experiences that enhance professional competence. By aligning professional development with established competencies, nursing professional development practitioners can deliver higher-quality education that improves practice outcomes, supports career advancement, and ensures regulatory compliance. This article examines the impact of incorporating established nursing competencies into educational activities and offers practical strategies for implementing these standards.

As artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes health care delivery, nursing professional development (NPD) educators must develop digital readiness in novice nurses. Recent accreditation trends for transition-to-practice programs have formalized curriculum design, supporting an evidence-based approach to integrating digital competencies through simulation-based education (SBE). AI-enhanced ethical case studies and reflective debriefings promote digital literacy and clinical reasoning, advancing SBE as a strategy for promoting practice readiness.

Health care faces a shortage of direct patient care workers with a projected 3.2 million deficit by 2026. This study examined the impact of an in-facility, employer-paid nursing assistant training program to address certified nursing assistant retention in a Midwest rural health care system. Using a mixed-method retrospective cohort design, researchers compared the retention of program participants ( n = 557) and nonparticipants ( n = 3,326). Results showed program participants were retained at a 9% higher rate than those trained outside the organization.

Nursing professional development practitioners (NPDPs) are evolving as simulationists, integrating immersive learning, mixed reality, and gamification to meet modern learners' needs. Within a large academic healthcare system, NPDPs lead interdisciplinary simulation initiatives that improve competency and advance quality improvements. Leveraging their unique clinical and educational expertise, NPDPs collaborate across professions, driving innovation and best practices in simulation-based education and supporting organizational goals for workforce readiness and patient safety.