I just got back from attending Transform 2025, a nursing education conference hosted by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) in Anaheim, CA. This was my first time attending this conference and it was both enlightening and inspiring. The sessions were packed with practical ideas, creative approaches, and honest discussions about what today’s nursing workforce needs.
I wanted to share a few highlights from some of the sessions I attended—both so I can remember them and in case they spark ideas for anyone else working in clinical or academic nursing education.
Preparing Adjunct Clinical Instructors & Fostering Academic Belonging
This session highlighted the reality that adjuncts often carry a significant portion of the clinical teaching load, but don’t always feel supported. The presenters showcased a simulation-based onboarding model that fostered belonging and increased confidence in new faculty. Through a combination of structured orientation, training modules, and simulations where a scaffolded approach was implemented, educators reported increased confidence in their teaching abilities. This was a very innovative way to onboard new adjunct clinical faculty and increase belonging in the process.
Zero to 40: Rapid Increase in Simulation to Enhance Competence
This program impressively scaled up their simulation offerings very quickly—from almost none to 40%—and showed strong results in practice readiness with their outcomes. As a simulation lab coordinator and someone who is very passionate about bringing high-quality simulations to our students, it was a great reminder that simulation, when implemented well, truly does work and helps create well-rounded, practice-ready nurses.
Future-Ready, Resilient Nurses: A Trauma-Informed Skills-Based Framework
This was such an important conversation. We talk about resilience and wellness all the time, but this framework embedded trauma-informed principles into skill development, communication, and even feedback practices. Although the project was implemented on a small scale and still has room to expand its impact, it made me rethink how often we unintentionally overlook student stress and how small adjustments can create safer learning environments.
Neurodiversity in the Classroom: Faculty Insights & Implications
Not to sound redundant, but this presentation was also so important and compelling. The presenters shared real faculty experiences supporting neurodiverse students and offered strategies to make classrooms more accessible without singling anyone out. They also shared fascinating statistics regarding neurodiversity in the current nursing workforce and among nurse educators – highlighting that if our nurses and nurse educators are neurodivergent, then certainly our students are as well. Nursing needs more conversations like this so we can improve upon our recognition of the strengths neurodiverse learners bring and give instructors tools to teach inclusively.
Final Thoughts
Transform 2025 was a wonderful experience. I left feeling inspired by how many educators are invested in making nursing education more inclusive and more aligned with the realities of today’s clinical environment. I am grateful for the opportunity to have been able to attend and look forward to the next AACN conference.
