Jing Wang is dean of Florida State University’s College of Nursing, where she also serves as a professor. In June, she was invited to serve on the National Advisory Council for Nursing Research at the National Institutes of Health to review and recommend grant applications for nursing research. She is nationally known for integrating technology into nursing research and education.
QUESTION: I’d love to learn a little bit more about your background. How did you get into this field?
ANSWER: As a Ph.D. student, I was involved in a clinical trial that found intensive lifestyle interventions, like eating healthy and getting more exercise, are better than taking medication. So, I shifted my interest to helping people adopt a healthy lifestyle. My whole focus is called self-monitoring: If you monitor yourself, you’re more likely to become aware of where you are (health-wise), and you may change your behavior. For example, if I tell you walking 10,000 steps a day is the goal, and you find you are only walking 1,000 steps a day, then you’ll be motivated to exercise more.
I think I was one of the first nurses to study technology like smartphones, wearable sensors, smart home devices and software AI. People know technology, but I don't think there’s science on how to better develop, design and implement those technologies to fit the patient’s needs. That’s where I think nurses will shine.
Q: What emerging trends are you seeing in nursing research?
A: There’s this huge trend about personalized care approaches, where nurses can leverage technology to deliver more individualized care. People can respond differently to the same treatment, and so the treatment should be tailored.
That’s why, at FSU, we have different centers and institutes focusing on these trends. Technology can help monitor people in a multitude of ways. We can develop a “digital twin” to predict how you may respond (to lifestyle changes), and then feed that (result) back to the patient. It’s how humans can be motivated to change their behaviors. That digital twin approach will be empowered by artificial intelligence, and these approaches can be applied for different chronic conditions, ranging from obesity, Type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, heart disease and more.
The other piece nurses really care about is symptoms. There are technologies that can help nurses treat symptoms like pain, depression and anxiety. How can we leverage science on how your brain functions to help you react differently?
Q: What are some challenges for nursing research and education in Florida?
A: I think we have a significant nursing shortage in Florida, nationally and globally. And I think not having a quality education available to more people is a barrier. We’ve quadrupled our program in the past three years, and it took a lot for us to do that. But it’s just not enough for what we need. We need more nurses in this state and for the nation.
In addition to getting more nurses out there, I think other barriers are how we can optimize nurses’ time. If you look at the research, many nurses spend more than 50% of their time in front of a computer. There needs to be systematic change. How can we leverage generative AI to help nurses with documentation so they don’t spend that much time in front of the computer? How can we get electronic health workers to facilitate that work, bringing nurses back to the bedside to take care of patients?
I think another barrier is that the same content has been taught in nursing schools for the past 20 years. We need to be nimble about our future. Nurses need to know how to master AI versus avoiding AI, because AI is here to stay. All these hard questions can be achieved through science.
Q: Where does Florida stand nationwide in terms of nursing research and overcoming barriers?
A: In general, we have very strong nursing schools, both public and private. The issues that we encounter are no different than any of the other states. And I think we have a relatively larger number of schools in Florida compared to other states.
At the end of the day, what can we do to address these barriers? That's what we are all passionate about here, through research. Sometimes, people don’t think nurses even do research, and I find that fascinating. I’m trying to change people’s perception — nurses run research. We need more media to empower nurses and to get more people into nursing. Even if they’re excited about technology and science, nursing can be your choice.
As an academic institution, FSU is integrating education, research and practice because nursing is also a practice profession. I think that’s important. I don't want people to feel like they are totally separate things. I think what we’re doing is trying to marry them all together to create a win-win situation.