Open research questions in Healthcare Education and Workforce Issues

What the literature leaves open

• There is a lack of studies measuring the opinion of academics regarding the factors that deter young people from entering baccalaureate nursing education programs. There is an absence of questionnaires to measure these opinions.

  Low Interest Among Young People in Becoming Nurses in Greece: Contributing Factors According to Academic Staff · 2026 · DOI

• The prevalence and determinants of humanization among Spanish undergraduates remain unclear. The study aims to fill this gap by investigating the relationship between humanization and communication skills in Spanish nursing students.

  Humanization and Communication Skills: A Cross-Sectional Study in Spanish Nursing Students · 2026 · DOI

• The study does not explicitly state the technical or domain challenges it faced, but it notes the lack of previously published distribution parameters for the S-CONE total score, which required a conservative estimate of variability.

  Nurse Educators’ Self-Reported Level of Teaching Competence and Its Correlation with Sociodemographic, Professional, Training and Research Variables: A Cross-Sectional Multicentre Study · 2026 · DOI

• The need to develop resilience-building strategies to enhance learning experiences and well-being among nursing students.

  Resilience as a Predictor of Satisfaction and Well-Being in Nursing Clinical Education: A Cross-Sectional Study · 2026 · DOI

• There is a need for valid and reliable instruments to measure nursing professionalism across cultural contexts. The existing instruments may not be suitable for the Portuguese context. The study aims to fill this gap by evaluating the validity and reliability of the Portuguese version of the Nurses' Professionalism Inventory.

  Validity and Reliability of the Portuguese Version of the Nurses’ Professionalism Inventory · 2026 · DOI

• The concept of legal literacy in clinical nurses is insufficiently defined. Existing studies use terms related to legal literacy inconsistently. There is a persistent gap between conceptualization and measurement of legal literacy, particularly in assessing law-based situational practice.

  Legal Literacy in Clinical Nursing Practice: A Walker and Avant Concept Analysis · 2026 · DOI

• Follow-up research is continuously needed to develop these competencies and evaluate their effectiveness. Further studies should investigate the effects of communication skills and grit on nursing performance in different settings.

  Exploring Personal and Relational Competencies for Enhancing Nursing Performance: Focusing on Communication Skills, Grit, and Leader–Member Exchange · 2026 · DOI

• The study highlights the need to identify key predictors of nursing performance to support workforce development and organizational policy planning. There is a gap in understanding the relationships among communication skills, grit, leader-member exchange, and nursing performance among clinical nurses.

  Exploring Personal and Relational Competencies for Enhancing Nursing Performance: Focusing on Communication Skills, Grit, and Leader–Member Exchange · 2026 · DOI

• There is a lack of research on the lived experience of newly graduated nurses in facing the examination. The international level shows considerable heterogeneity in the organization and implementation of licensure examinations. The study identifies a need for a deeper understanding of the examination experience and its impact on newly graduated nurses.

  The Experience of the Nursing Licensure Examination Among Newly Graduated Nurses: A Qualitative Study · 2025 · DOI

• Nursing internship is intended to develop clinical competence in graduate nurses before registration, but little is known about how competent interns in Nigeria judge themselves to be.

  Self-Assessed Clinical Skills among Nurse Interns in Two Public Tertiary Hospitals in Rivers State, Nigeria: A Cross-Sectional Study · 2026 · DOI

• Humanized care is a core indicator of nursing quality, yet its prevalence and determinants among Spanish undergraduates remain unclear.

  Humanization and Communication Skills: A Cross-Sectional Study in Spanish Nursing Students · 2026 · DOI

• Although both PI formation and HL are considered important in nursing education, their interrelationship remains insufficiently understood.

  Healthy Lifestyle and Professional Identity in Nursing Students: A Scoping Review of Their Interrelationships · 2026 · DOI

• The legal dimensions of nursing practice have become increasingly complex, yet the concept of legal literacy in clinical nurses remains insufficiently defined.

  Legal Literacy in Clinical Nursing Practice: A Walker and Avant Concept Analysis · 2026 · DOI

• The importance of ECMO nurses in the ECMO team and in caring for patients has been demonstrated, but the impact of the core competency dimension on ECMO nurses has not been explored.

  Investigation of the Current Status of Core Competencies of ECMO Nurses in ICUs and Analysis of Influencing Factors: A Multicentre Survey · 2025 · DOI

• During the COVID-19 pandemic, these relationships became especially crucial, yet they remain underexplored in the context of Southeast Asia.

  The Face of Crisis: Examining Factors Affecting Nurses’ Professional Values During the COVID-19 Pandemic · 2025 · DOI

• Further research could explore the relationship between strengths, academic performance, and success on licensure exams to refine these insights and their application in physical therapy education.

  Self-Empowerment and Academic Success: CliftonStrengths in Doctor of Physical Therapy Students · 2026 · DOI

• Limited transparency and explainability of AI technologies. Excessive reliance on automated systems. Risks to data privacy and confidentiality.

  Artificial Intelligence Literacy, Critical Thinking Disposition, and Clinical Competence Among Nursing Students: A Cross-Sectional Study · 2026 · DOI

• Prior work has highlighted the importance of medication safety, but the study aims to investigate the specific relationship between critical thinking disposition, clinical reasoning competence, and nursing practice environment.

  Influence of Critical Thinking Disposition, Clinical Reasoning Competence, and Nursing Practice Environment on Medication Safety Competence of Hospital Nurses · 2025 · DOI

• Limited resources and poor working environments in small- and medium-sized hospitals.

  The Mediating Effect of Meaning of Work on the Relationship between Job Characteristics and Job Satisfaction among Nurses in Small and Medium-Sized Hospitals · 2026 · DOI

• Further studies could explore the relationship between teaching competence and other variables, - Research could investigate the impact of teaching competence on student outcomes, - Studies could examine the effectiveness of different training programs for nurse…

  Nurse Educators’ Self-Reported Level of Teaching Competence and Its Correlation with Sociodemographic, Professional, Training and Research Variables: A Cross-Sectional Multicentre Study · 2026 · DOI

• Qualitative approaches-including narrative interviews and phenomenological analysis-could illuminate the lived experiences underlying quantitative patterns - Experimental studies comparing resilience curricula (e.g., mindfulnessbased stress reduction, cognitive-behavioral approaches, peer mentorship models) would inform evidence-based program development - Future investigations should explore the intersection…

  Resilience as a Predictor of Satisfaction and Well-Being in Nursing Clinical Education: A Cross-Sectional Study · 2026 · DOI

• Further studies could investigate the use of the NPI in different cultural contexts - Research could explore the relationship between nurses' professionalism and patient outcomes - Studies could examine the impact of structural empowerment on nurses'…

  Validity and Reliability of the Portuguese Version of the Nurses’ Professionalism Inventory · 2026 · DOI

• Future research should adopt conceptually coherent and methodologically balanced designs, - Research should be conducted across diverse educational…

  Healthy Lifestyle and Professional Identity in Nursing Students: A Scoping Review of Their Interrelationships · 2026 · DOI

• Further studies are needed to explore the impact of AI literacy and critical thinking disposition on clinical competence in different nursing populations, - Research on the development of effective strategies to improve AI literacy and critical thinking disposition among nursing students…

  Artificial Intelligence Literacy, Critical Thinking Disposition, and Clinical Competence Among Nursing Students: A Cross-Sectional Study · 2026 · DOI

• Further research could explore the experiences of nurses with more than 3 years of professional experience, - Research on the lived experience of newly graduated nurses in facing the examination is lacking, - The international debate on the value and potential continuation of the nursing licensure examination could be further…

  The Experience of the Nursing Licensure Examination Among Newly Graduated Nurses: A Qualitative Study · 2025 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Healthcare Education and Workforce Issues

• The measurement and prediction of career commitment · Journal of Occupational Psychology · 1985 · 646 citations
• A Longitudinal Analysis of the Antecedents of Organizational Commitment. · Academy of Management Journal · 1984 · 522 citations
• Nurses?? Job Satisfaction · Nursing Research · 1993 · 368 citations
• Perceived stress and social support in undergraduate nursing students' educational experiences · Nurse Education Today · 2012 · 269 citations
• Stress and anxiety among nursing students: A review of intervention strategies in literature between 2009 and 2015 · Nurse Education in Practice · 2016 · 241 citations
• COMMUNICATION SATISFACTION, JOB SATISFACTION, AND JOB PERFORMANCE · Human Communication Research · 1986 · 236 citations
• Perceived stress and physio-psycho-social status of nursing students during their initial period of clinical practice: the effect of coping behaviors · International Journal of Nursing Studies · 2002 · 229 citations
• Antecedents of organizational commitment and the mediating role of job satisfaction · Journal of Managerial Psychology · 2001 · 224 citations
• Work Satisfaction and Stress in the First and Third Year of Academic Appointment · The Journal of Higher Education · 1993 · 223 citations
• A longitudinal study of stress and self-esteem in student nurses · Nurse Education Today · 2009 · 222 citations

Most recent work

• Self-Efficacy in Clinical Decision-Making Under Stress Among Senior Nursing Students · Nurse Educator · 2026
• Workplace Trust, Interpersonal Trust, and Nurses' Physical and Mental Health: The Mediating Role of Resilience · Journal of Clinical Nursing · 2026
• Strategic Leadership in Nursing Education During Uncertainty · Nursing Education Perspectives · 2026
• Supporting Feedback and Trust in CBME: A Conjoint WBA Workshop for Trainers and Trainees · The Clinical Teacher · 2026
• A mediation model of nurse's perceived professional benefits between job crafting and turnover intention among junior registered nurses · Nurse Education Today · 2026
• Comprehensive self-report scales to measure nurse competence: A scoping review · Nurse Education in Practice · 2026
• Low Interest Among Young People in Becoming Nurses in Greece: Contributing Factors According to Academic Staff · Nursing Reports · 2026
• Humanization and Communication Skills: A Cross-Sectional Study in Spanish Nursing Students · Nursing Reports · 2026
• Development and Application of a Music Therapy Program for Psychological Support of Female Students Preparing for Employment : Focusing on Career Motivation, Emotional Intelligence, and Perfectionistic Tendencies · Journal of Arts Psychotherapy · 2026
• Factors Influencing Organizational Commitment by Generational Differences among Nurses: A Narrative Review · The Korean Society for Health and Nursing Convergence · 2026

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