Why trusted support should be part of the nursing workflow

When care is moving quickly, nurses do not always have time to step away and search for guidance. New nursing findings and Elsevier’s workflow guidance point to the same conclusion: support works best when it is trusted, easy to reach and available in the flow of work.

For nurses, support only helps if it is there when the moment calls for it.

That is becoming more important as workloads rise and practice keeps changing. Elsevier’s Clinician of the Future 2026: Nursing Edition shows nurses working under sustained pressure. Elsevier’s nursing workflow guidance points to a practical response: bring trusted skills support closer to care.

When guidance sits too far outside the workflow, it becomes harder to use when it matters most.

Pressure leaves less room to search

The latest nursing findings capture the strain:

• 61% of nurses say they are seeing more patients than a year ago

• 43% say keeping up with medical advances is challenging

• 34% say tiredness or exhaustion has impaired their ability to treat patients effectively

That pressure changes what “access” means. Elsevier’s workflow guidance notes that nurses regularly face care questions they did not anticipate. In the moment, it can be faster to search the internet than move through EHR tabs or internal portals.

When trusted support is technically available but hard to reach, it becomes another task in an already crowded shift.

Guidance needs to be closer to care

The workflow guidance makes a practical point: evidence-based skills support cannot sit several clicks away from the normal EHR workflow and still be expected to shape care consistently.

Support has to be easier to find, easier to revisit and easier to use in real time.

That need is reinforced by the pace of change:

• 43% of nurses say keeping up with medical advances is challenging

• 42% say keeping up with the latest technologies and tools is challenging

• 78% say skill with AI tools will become an essential part of clinician training and competencies

Support now has to do more than answer occasional questions. It has to help nurses keep learning as practice evolves.

Read: Elevating nurses as impact makers

Trusted support builds confidence

Nurses need guidance they can rely on, but they also need it in a form that fits the reality of practice. Support should help them refresh skills quickly, stay in the moment and make decisions with greater clarity.

Elsevier’s workflow guidance makes the same case operationally. When evidence-based skills support is easier to access inside the workflow, it can strengthen consistency across settings and reduce the friction between question and answer.

That is especially important when teams are stretched and patient needs are complex.

Better support should feel like part of practice

Nurses do not need more information stored somewhere else in the system. They need trusted guidance that is close at hand, easy to use and available without adding friction.

Workflow is not a technical detail. It is part of how confidence, consistency and quality are built in practice.

When support becomes part of the workflow, it has a better chance of doing what nurses need it to do: help them stay current, act with confidence and keep more attention where it belongs — on patients.