Closing the Experience-Complexity Gap in Nursing
In early 2024 the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimated that approximately 20% of nurses in the U.S. planned to retire within the next 5 years. As these experienced nurses retire and more novice nurses replace them in the workforce the net level of experience can decrease in response. Coupled with a time of increasingly complex care, an experience-complexity gap is the resulting impact on the nursing workforce (Advisory Board, 2023). Without effective measures to maintain the expertise of an evolving nursing workforce this gap can diminish the quality of care a healthcare facility can provide.
To address the preparation needs, healthcare facilities can focus on pathways that develop each phase of a nurse's career to ensure clinical competency and retain skilled nurses. Such methods focus on optimizing learning from clinical experiences, easing the transition to practice experience, fostering preceptorship/ mentorship opportunities, and focusing on the development of millennial nurses. Utilizing these strategies, healthcare systems can maximize their nursing workforce by increasing job satisfaction while boosting retention of RNs throughout their career.
Closing the Gap
Optimize Learning from Clinical Experiences
Clinical experiences are the moments in an RN’s career where they gain the most insight. As found in a study published in Nurse Education in Practice, reflection is ‘beneficial for supporting clinical competency through professional development’ for novice RNs (2025). The same study also found that reflection supported emotional well-being, clinical reasoning, and decision-making. By reflecting on their experiences and identifying strengths and areas for improvement, RNs further their critical thinking skills while fostering resilience to advance their holistic professional practice. Optimizing how nurses learn from their clinical encounters through encouraging reflection and self-awareness develops their clinical reasoning and helps to reinforce continuous practice development. With a framework to process clinical experiences novice RNs can optimize learning to bridge the gap between theory and practice.
Ease the Transition to Practice Experience
Focusing on the transition to practice during the first year of a nurse’s career connects education with their new clinical perspective. By structuring the transition to practice experience new grads have the resources needed to adjust to the demands of nursing while building confidence and improving patient safety. As discussed in the journal Nurse Leader, a structured transition to practice experience that adapts to the needs of the individual nurse contributes to decreased turnover by improving the enculturation, relationship building, and confidence of new hire RNs (2025). Nurturing a healthcare organization’s current nursing workforce can be one of the most effective ways to validate the competency of nurses to facility standards while also improving the retention of first year nurses. With clinical learning modules, mentorship, and leadership skill development healthcare facilities can improve patient safety by empowering nursing teams.
Nurture Preceptorship/ Mentorship Opportunities
With a retiring workforce the loss of nursing insight can deeply impact the patient care experience placing patient safety at risk for diminishment. One way to preserve the knowledge of experienced RNs is by sharing their expertise through preceptor and mentor opportunities. Discussed by the AORN Journal, preceptor/ mentor relationships create a collaborative learning environment for both participants (2022). As mentees benefit from accountability, professional guidance, and confidence building, preceptors/ mentors have the chance to stay current on evidence-based practices. These opportunities foster a sense of belonging for nurses throughout their teams while preparing staff for increasingly complex care. Engaging experienced nurses in the development of novice RNs strengthens their practice and facilitates an exchange of expertise that accelerates the development of critical thinking skills to preserve the net experience level of the nursing workforce.
Focus on Developing Seasoned Nurses
In addition to adequately preparing new grad RNs for the complexities of patient care, advancing the skills of nurses beyond their first year contributes to effective stabilization of the nursing workforce. Identified by the American Organization for Nursing Leadership, nurturing seasoned staff is integral to a steady pipeline of workers as they have the foundation to guide novice nurses in providing quality care and pursue specialized areas of practice (n.d.). By supporting the career advancement of experienced RNs, healthcare facilities can both improve job satisfaction and gain more skilled caregivers. Encouraging career development supports the long-term retention of this segment of the nursing workforce while helping to maintain the experience level of the nursing workforce as a whole.
Pairing a retiring workforce with increasingly complex care places patient safety and quality of care at risk. Effective measures to address the resulting experience-complexity gap lies in learning from clinical experiences, successful transition to practice, preceptor/ mentorship opportunities, and the development of experienced RNs. Through empowering nurses with learning experiences and supporting their career advancement, healthcare facilities can preserve the expertise of their nursing workforce and effectively retain nurses throughout their career.
References
American Organization of Nursing Leadership. (n.d.). Nurse executives advise on closing the experience-complexity gap.
https://www.aonl.org/news/nurse-executives-advise-closing-experience-complexity-gap
Bowers, M., Terry, D., Irwin, P. (2025, August). The impact of reflective practice on nursing students: A scoping review. Nurse Education in Practice, 87. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1471595325002240
Dennis, V. (2022, August 25). The value of mentorship in nursing. AORN Journal, 116(3), 215-217. https://aornjournal.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aorn.13769
U.S. Chamber of Commerce. (2024, January 29). Data deep dive: A national nursing crisis. https://www.uschamber.com/workforce/nursing-workforce-data-center-a-national-nursing-crisis
Varghese, L., Shkrabak, S. (2025, February). Seamless transition: Strategies for effective new nurse orientation and practice integration. Nurse Leader, 23(1), 58-61. https://www.nurseleader.com/article/S1541-4612%2824%2900248-9/fulltext
Westhead, M., Paiewonsky, A. (2023, May 18). The experience-complexity gap. Advisory Board. https://www.advisory.com/topics/nursing/2023/05/the-experience-complexity-gap
To Cite This Article
Carden, I. (2025, December 16). Closing the experience-complexity gap in nursing. TruMont. (URL when posted)
