The digital future of nursing: making sense of taxonomies and key concepts.

Digital technology is becoming increasingly common in routine nursing practice. The adoption of digital technologies such as video calling, and other digital communication, has been hastened by the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Use of these technologies has the potential to revolutionise nursing practice, leading to potentially more accurate patient assessment, monitoring processes and improved safety in clinical areas. This article outlines key concepts related to the digitalisation of health care and the implications for nursing practice. The aim of this article is to encourage nurses to consider the implications, opportunities and challenges associated with the move towards digitalisation and advances in technology. Specifically, this means understanding key digital developments and innovations associated with healthcare provision and appreciating the implications of digitalisation for the future of nursing practice.

Developing the digital self-determined learner through heutagogical design

This empirical qualitative study investigates whether the introduction of heutagogy in contemporary nursing education can foster the development of the digital self-determined learner, who is prepared to work and live in the fourth industrial age and beyond. The impact of heutagogical design on learner process and outcomes is explored through qualitative framework analysis of learner data and reflective educator observations. Findings suggest that with careful scaffolding and courage in remaining true to the educational philosophy, this approach has the potential to develop learners who demonstrate key principles of heutagogy including non-linear learning, learner agency, capability, self-reflection and metacognition and double-loop learning. This innovative study provides insight into the process of developing the self-determined learner and encourages further research into flexible and learner-centred approaches across Higher Education.

Redefining undergraduate nurse teaching during the coronavirus pandemic: use of digital technologies.

During the current coronavirus pandemic, undergraduate nurse teaching is facing many challenges. Universities have had to close their campuses, which means that academics are working from home and may be coping with unfamiliar technology to deliver the theoretical part of the undergraduate nursing curriculum. Emergency standards from the Nursing and Midwifery Council have allowed theoretical instruction to be replaced with distance learning, requiring nursing academics to adapt to providing a completely virtual approach to their teaching. This article provides examples of tools that can be used to deliver the theoretical component of the undergraduate nursing curriculum and ways of supporting students and colleagues in these unprecedented times.