The Digital Future of Nursing: Implications for Practice

Commissioned by Health Education England, the country's organization for education and workforce development, the Phillips Ives Review on the Digital Future of Nursing highlighted the requisite priorities of person-centered care in digital health innovations and the required changes in nursing education to ensure competent practice in the digital age. Findings from this unpublished review, shared in the Health Service Journal and Nursing Times, bring attention to emerging care models such as virtual nursing and the critical importance of embedding person-centered nursing into the design and implementation of technology. Additionally, the importance of equipping nurses with skills in genomics, artificial intelligence, and data science was essential to delivering the benefits of these advancements. The review, along with other key policy initiatives including the International Council of Nursing (ICN) Position Statement on Digital Transformation illustrates increasing awareness amongst nurse leaders globally that these issues must be addressed. This article builds on the Phillips Ives Review, emphasizes new nurse-led innovations in various healthcare organizations, and examines key themes highlighted in these policy papers, namely person-centered care and the rise of virtual care. It further discusses implications for nurse education and clinical practice and examines how policies are emerging from professional nursing organizations including the American Nurses Association, the American Organization for Nursing Leadership, in addition to the ICN.