Nurse executives advise on closing the experience-complexity gap

A growing shortage of nursing experience could undermine quality of care the authors of a December JONA article argued. When young and less experienced nurses replace older more experienced nurses upon their retirement, the level of experience in the workforce declines. This decline has coincided with an increase in the complexity of care, creating what the authors called “the experience-complexity gap.” The authors urged leaders to take action to prevent the gap from widening, an event they warned could lead to quality and safety issues. They suggested three key strategies for addressing the problem: work with academic partners to improve student preparation by optimizing clinical placements; double-down on retention efforts, especially with millennial nurses; and redesign the training for new hires by improving preceptorship quality and streamlining expectations in the first 12 weeks of practice.