NLN Press Releases Full Report from Global Nursing Education Leadership’s Inaugural Gathering in Helsinki

NLN Press Releases Full Report from Global Nursing Education Leadership’s Inaugural Gathering in Helsinki

Order Now the Future of Nursing Education: An International Utstein Report

• New publication highlights five priorities to secure the future of nursing education worldwide: competency-based education; artificial intelligence; planetary health; nurse and nurse faculty well-being; and faculty workforce.
• Utstein Global Conference for Nursing Education created a dialogue with nursing faculty, clinical leaders, and regulators about a range of issues vital to advancing excellence in nursing education across international borders.
• The book substantially addresses the ongoing challenges of and strategies to address the worldwide shortage of nurse educators.

Washington, DC — The National League for Nursing announces the release of The Future of Nursing Education: An International Utstein Report, a comprehensive publication outlining the findings to emerge from the inaugural Utstein Global Conference for Nursing Education, which convened June 7-8, 2025, in Helsinki, Finland. The National League for Nursing organized and hosted the event, with support from Laerdal Medical and the Health Carousel Foundation, two longstanding League partners in promoting excellence and innovation in nursing education.

NLN President and CEO Beverly Malone, PhD, RN, FAAN, collaborated with two League colleagues, Chief Program Officer Gordon Gillespie, PhD, DNP, RN, FAAN, and Deputy Chief Director Sandra Davis, PhD, DPM, ACNP-BC, FAANP, FAAN, to co-author the report.

The purpose of the Utstein meeting was to identify the future priorities of nursing education as well as create a dialogue about a range of issues viewed as vital to advancing excellence in nursing education in the preparation of a diverse, highly competent nursing workforce across international borders. During their packed two-day gathering, attendees from around the world met for panel discussions, expert-led presentations, and in small working groups to explore current and potential barriers and strategies to incorporate new curricular constructs in four distinct areas of nursing education and faculty workforce recommendations from a global perspective.

• Competency-based education
• Artificial intelligence
• Planetary health
• Nurse well-being
• Faculty shortage
  

In addition to chapters on curricula, an entire section of the book is devoted to the international faculty shortage, viewed as a monumental impediment to implementing positive transformation of nursing education worldwide. The section begins with a chapter giving a detailed overview of the current situation, including its manifestations in different nations, particularly focused on those parts of the world where the nursing faculty shortage is most severe. The next chapter is a thorough discussion of the barriers and strategies to address the pressing shortage of nurse educators. 

As faculty endeavor to address these issues within their unique academic communities, the book provides a synthesis of practical guidance applicable to varied cultural contexts. The book aims to identify the common denominators that can bring about excellence in nursing education today and for future generations through a unified, strategic approach that may be implemented across diverse geographic, economic and cultural environments.  

“No other single resource addresses these priority topics in a single book, and no other resource focuses on nurse educators and nursing education. This book provides not only the report of this historic, international Utstein meeting, but includes specific strategies that can be translated to the practice of nursing education, in the US as well as globally,” said Dr. Malone.

“We are excited to share the data and consensus to emerge from the Utstein Conference, which had been in the planning for nearly two years before the meeting took place. We have every expectation that the vital information detailed in The Future of Nursing Education will provide a platform for the development in a variety of academic settings and social/cultural contexts of data-driven curricular innovation and initiate collaboration among schools of nursing, clinical partners; and policymakers throughout the global healthcare community,” said NLN Chair Dr. Yolanda VanRiel, chair of the Department of Nursing, North Carolina Central University and patient placement coordinator at First Health of the Carolinas-Moore Regional Hospital. 

The Future of Nursing Education is available for purchase at the NLN Bookstore. For more information, visit NLN.org.