Widening the Lens: The Wicked Problem in Healthcare

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN: 2021) demands proficiency in new competencies identified as essential to meet the needs of today’s culturally diverse patients—including empathy, cultural sensitivity, and compassionate care. Nurses have traditionally been trained and assessed on technical skills through conventional instruction and, most recently, through immersive simulations to address complex patient needs. However, a gap exists in the effective instruction and assessment of the emotional skills needed to appreciate patients’ unique cultural and linguistic diversities in order to deliver effective patient-centered care. This literature review contributes to a larger conversation about the growing need for the support and encouragement of transdisciplinarity in academia and its implications for the continued exploration of immersive learning across disciplines as a critical societal contribution to addressing wicked problems.