COVID-19’s Disruptive Innovation: Accelerating the Academic Preparation of Professional Nurses’ Ambulatory and Telehealth Roles

The pandemic has enhanced professional nursing’s role in ambulatory and telehealth practice, and reinforced the academic preparation gap for practice-ready nurses in these specialties. Population health and community-focused care, fully leveraging ambulatory and telehealth practices, are the immerging venues of health care and a solution to health care equity and affordability. Accelerated academic reformation is pivotal to fundamentally prepare for the nursing’s essential post-pandemic role. An overview of key industry report recommendations, disruptive innovation exemplars in academic design for ambulatory and telehealth practice-ready graduates, and implications for nurse executives in leading this transformation are identified.