Nursing the future: Braving possibilities, challenges and dilemmas

The future of nursing practice has limitless possibilities.  We live in an era where everything is subject to continuous scrutiny, which constantly challenges us to think anew. The once seemingly crystallised truths of the past are now being put to the test, creating the basis for new paradigms and perspectives. In this editorial, I will take you on a journey into the future. A vision inspired by what we can only comment on today as some futuristic possibilities. However, in the next 20-30 years, nurses will perhaps look back and say, ‘that’s what we were talking about in the 2020s’.  Technology is undoubtedly one of the significant driving forces influencing the practice of nursing. However, technological advances in nursing are not limited to what we currently imagine. How about imagining nursing around futuristic compassionate nursing care that will be delivered effectively through technology (Archibald & Barnard, 2017). The increasing popularity of virtual clinics, and possibly eventually nurse-led virtual clinics globally (Cusack & Taylor, 2010) introduces us to the direction of assessing clients through mobile screen technology.  While virtual clinics are becoming more common as part of the health care landscape, nurses have yet to be comprehensively upskilled and prepared on how to perform an accurate ‘virtual assessment’. Because virtual proximity depends highly on technology, it requires nurses as well as clients to have acquired knowledge to operate and respond to this platform. The essential navigational skills towards technology may pose challenges and dilemmas for nurses to achieve a technology-driven humane and compassionate connection.