Micro-Credentials and Skill-Based Stacking in Nursing: A Narrative Review
Abstract
Background: The nursing profession is faced with new challenges that have never been seen before, including workforce shortages, technological advances, and demands for advanced skills. Traditional degree programs are slow to respond to these shifting needs at such a fast rate, so micro-credentials—short, competency-based certificates—are arising, and skill-based stacking, which layers the credentials into modular career tracks, is underway.
Aim: The objective of this review is to synthesize the role of micro-credentials and skill-stacking in nursing education, their application, benefits, drawbacks, and future uses.
Methods: A narrative review was undertaken comparing peer-reviewed papers (2018–2025) published in PubMed, CINAHL, and Google Scholar. Sources were selected for relevance to nursing education, workforce development, and credentialing, with a focus on stakeholder perspectives, empirical evidence, and global trends.
Results: Micro-credentials build clinical expertise (e.g., 15% reduced mortality by sepsis training) and employability (90% employer preference), and stacking raises earnings by 89% in five years. Challenges are inconsistency regarding terms utilized (45% of research), low employer validation (40% skepticism), and access limitation for rural nurses (22% stacking rate). AI and VR technologies hold scalability potential but need ethical governance.
Conclusion: Micro-credentials and stacking offer equitable, flexible solutions to nursing shortages, requiring standardization and policy support to realize their full impact.
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Authors
Copyright (c) 2025 Asma Khulaif Almutairi, Hanan Awad Alshahrany, Fatma Ali Alhaqab, Reem Mansour Alqurshi, Amal Khalaf Alanazi, Ramdaa Khulaif Almutairi, Saleh Salem ALjeri , Fatima Saleh Hassan Alshmimri, Fatimah Manaour Altowairqi, Ahmed Naji Alsahabi
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.