The pandemic has enhanced professional nursing's role in ambulatory and telehealth practice, and reinforced the academic preparation gap for practice-ready nurses in these specialties. Population health and community-focused care, fully leveraging ambulatory and telehealth practices, are the immerging venues of health care and a solution to health care equity and affordability. Accelerated academic reformation is pivotal to fundamentally prepare for the nursing's essential post-pandemic role. An overview of key industry report recommendations, disruptive innovation exemplars in academic design for ambulatory and telehealth practice-ready graduates, and implications for nurse executives in leading this transformation are identified.
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