Developing nursing competence: Future proofing nurses for the changing practice requirements of 21st century healthcare

There's a conundrum that is taxing us at the moment – how can we see into the future to know what we need to know, to be prepared for things to come? Obviously none of us has the actual ability to ‘see’ into the future, but we are very good at distilling trends from the past, projecting them forwards and developing plans for action in the here and now. We try to create what Alvin Toffler calls ‘time spanners’ – things to connect us to the future (Toffler, 1970). However, the further we move away from today, the more uncertain we become about our predictions and our ability to cope: our spanners are too short.
Source: Nurse Education in Practice - Category: Nursing Authors: Tags: Editorial Source Type: research