How Has the NEM Impacted Nurse Practitioner Instruction and Training?

The Nursing Education Model (NEM)1 is a contemporary framework introduced over a decade ago in response to the evolving demands of modern healthcare and nursing services. Aiming to revolutionize the education and training of nursing professionals, NEM focuses on three primary concepts—Learner, Instructor, and Shared Outcomes (LISO)—and embodies the principles of active learning, critical thinking, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
At its core, the model drives a learner-centered approach that empowers students to develop not only clinical skills but also critical thinking and the ability to adapt to dynamic healthcare scenarios. It promotes components such as robust curricula tailored to current healthcare challenges and innovative teaching methodologies and emphasizes lifelong learning and professional development. NP educators who embrace the NEM will be armed with the tools and strategies to cultivate a new generation of competent, resilient NPs capable of delivering high-quality patient care.
In theory, NEM is a solid move toward a paradigm shift that will help enhance NP education but how has the model panned out in real-world applications? One study set out to find the answer.
Uses and applications of the NEM: A scoping review
To examine the use of NEM and determine if the model requires any modifications, 71 peer-reviewed articles and books published from 2010 to June 2023 were identified using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systemic Reviews and Meta-Analyses for Scoping Reviews.2 The results supported the learner-centered approach alongside technology use and highlighted the need for educators to consider students’ needs, diversities, and vulnerabilities. Interactions with peers and cross-disciplinary members as well as academic and clinical role models were identified as key to preparing students for the “real world”.
From the findings, these six themes on the usage of the NEM were surfaced:

01
Move curricula from being instructor-centered to learner-centered

02
Support new instruction methods that include using technology and digital tools


03
View every student as a unique individual who brings experiences and perspective into the classroom

04
Call for revision in curriculum and pedagogical processes, plus reduce content-laden courses


05
Bridge the theory-clinical divide

06
Support use at the aggregate level and applied to programs, systems, and classrooms

Let’s take a closer look at how these six themes fit within the LISO components of the NEM.
Learner: Building schema and higher-order thinking skills
Having critical thinking and clinical reasoning skills were found to positively impact learners whereas an insufficient knowledge base had the opposite effect. To counter this, suggested interventions included student-led, interdisciplinary, and self-directed learning. Other strategies mentioned capitalizing on technology through simulation, digital storytelling, and e-learning.
What this means for educators
To lay a strong foundation of knowledge, students must first build robust schemas—mental frameworks that enable the brain to understand the content it intakes. Schemas lighten the amount of mental activity in the short-term memory, known as cognitive load before the knowledge can be locked into long-term memory. The more schemas a student has, the more they can minimize cognitive load and maximize their learning, leading to the establishment of a solid knowledge base.
How can educators lighten students’ cognitive load? Cognitive load theory outlines eleven effects that can be used to guide educators to reflect on their own practice and improve content delivery, leading to ideal learning performance and results. Additionally, technology learning resources such as Picmonic, powered by and integrated with TrueLearn, can provide support and lighten educators’ pedagogical burden.
Picmonic breaks down complex NP concepts into memorable audio-visual mnemonics that help students learn faster, retain better and for longer, and recall knowledge more easily. With Picmonic cementing foundational knowledge, faculty can focus on helping students cultivate critical thinking and clinical reasoning by utilizing TrueLearn’s FNP SmartBank of board-style practice questions to check students’ comprehension and simulate the actual AANP® and ANCC® exams to assess exam readiness. Furthermore, educators can access the platform’s robust data analytics to track performance, progress, and potential outcomes.
Picmonic and TrueLearn thus transform traditional lectures into active learning experiences—crucial for building schemas—to drive a learner-centered approach. Students not only engage meaningfully with the content but also with their peers and educators, creating an environment that’s conducive for developing lifelong learning habits such as metacognition, self-regulated learning, and a growth mindset.
Instructor: Shifting from instructor-led to learner-centered
Both educators and the curriculum can strongly influence teaching and learning practices, with a number of attributes found to be helpful in delivering positive results. These include having clearly defined expectations and a keen expertise in the content matter (and technology), using a concept-based curricula and real-world applications, and showing sincerity in engaging with students. Meanwhile, strategies like role modeling, flipped classrooms, unfolding case studies or increasingly complex material, problem-based teaching, and immersion experiences were identified as interventions that effectively facilitated teaching and learning.
The literature also showed that the NEM played a role in supporting the shift from an instructor-led approach to a student-centered model of learning, and made a strong case to move away from passive instruction while promoting classroom engagement and interaction.
What this means for educators
Faculty can fulfill all the attributes and interventions mentioned by integrating Picmonic and TrueLearn into the NP curriculum and setting clear goals using both platforms’ learning functionalities and teaching tools, such as quizzing and video lessons.
Quizzing combines the benefits of two proven learning strategies, spaced repetition and practice retrieval, to deliver the “spaced-retrieval” effect that strengthens the brain’s natural memory encoding abilities, improves long-term knowledge retention, and easy retrieval of learned content. Versatile and flexible, Picmonic and TrueLearn’s quizzes are customizable to suit learning needs and objectives, be it as a classroom activity, individual student or group assignment, or as a formative or summative assessment tool. Students learn through 2- to 3-minute video lessons that support learning strategies such as the Von Restorff effect (the more something differs from the rest, the more likely it will be remembered) and are aligned with the brain’s natural memory encoding process.
Furthermore, Picmonic is mapped to popular nurse practitioner textbooks and resources covering over 21,000 essential NP facts, whereas TrueLearn’s FNP SmartBank provides 1,800+ practice questions mapped to the systems and clinical areas that will be tested on AANP® and ANCC® exams.
When incorporated into lesson plans, the Picmonic-TrueLearn solution enables educators to activate evidence-based learning while driving better classroom engagement as students get to interact meaningfully with the content. TrueLearn’s critical thinking and scenario-based questions are also ideal for group discussions and learning. Faculty can then simultaneously meet two goals: gauge students’ comprehension levels and strengthen mastery as required.
Shared outcomes: Drive optimal outcomes through formative and summative assessments
For students to achieve optimal results, these skills were highlighted as essential: critical thinking, problem solving, and readiness for practice. There was also good support for evidence-based practices and ways to bridge the theory-practice gap. And how could programs and faculty best evaluate the outcomes? A few metrics were recognized as effective methods, including learner and curricular assessments, self-directed learning, learning efficacy, self-assessment in clinical practice, and clinical training experience satisfaction.
What this means for educators
To quickly, easily, and objectively measure performance and outcomes, faculty must be armed with performance data that tracks students from day one and throughout the course. That way, educators can spot learning and curricular gaps, identify at-risk students, and provide the necessary support to improve their performance on exams.
Additionally, educators can help students cultivate higher-order thinking skills by implementing cognitive science strategies such as practice retrieval (recalling knowledge by extracting from memory) and spaced repetition (regular exposure to content, spaced out over increasing intervals). Research has found that students who employ these methods perform better on complex tasks, enhance their cognition, more easily build long-term retention, and optimize study time.
An easy way to activate these proven methodologies is with the Picmonic-TrueLearn solution: students cement a strong knowledge base with Picmonic and then test their knowledge application with TrueLearn. Both offer opportunities for low-stakes recall practice via quizzes that focus on selected content areas and are aligned with the curriculum. Backed by TrueLearn’s robust data analytics engine, this will surface critical insights on student performance, progress, and how they are likely to perform on exams.
The solution also empowers faculty to bridge theory to practice: utilize chosen research as a topic for classroom discussion—such as this review of nurse practitioners’ roles in hypertension management—then bolster comprehension with Picmonic’s video lessons, and follow through with TrueLearn’s practice questions to assess critical thinking and clinical judgment skills.
How Picmonic and TrueLearn enable real-world applications of the NEM
The findings of the scoping review indicated that changes need to occur on two levels: individual (learner, instructor, and shared outcomes) and aggregate (systems, academic programs, and population evaluation methods).
Picmonic and TrueLearn enable NP programs to drive these changes through a combination of cognitive science strategies, active learning resources, assessment tools, and predictive analytics. Integrated into the curriculum, the solution empowers schools to seamlessly implement the NEM into real-world applications, facilitating a paradigm shift from instructor-focused to learner-centered and propelling NP education forward.
Watch a demo on how Picmonic and TrueLearn can help your program deliver desired outcomes in NP education.
References & Footnotes
1 A paradigm shift in nursing education: a new model. PubMed. Published December 1, 2010. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21280445/
2 Stanley M, Hall K. A Paradigm Shift for the Nursing Education Model: A scoping review. Journal of Nursing Education/the Journal of Nursing Education. 2024;63(3):141-147. doi:10.3928/01484834-20240108-08
AANP® and ANCC® are trademarks of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners Certification Board (AANPCB) and the American Nurse Credentialing Center (ANCC), respectively. This content is not endorsed or approved by AANPCB or ANCC.