Lotta Eronen, PhD | Senior Lecturer | MSc | Registered Nurse

Research interests

My research focuses on nurses’ clinical competence, nursing education, and the future development of the nursing profession. I am particularly interested in how nurses and other healthcare professionals can be prepared for increasingly complex and digital healthcare environments while maintaining person-centered and compassionate care.

My doctoral research focused on nursing education and graduating nurses’ clinical competence across the Nordic countries. As part of my PhD in Health Sciences, I contributed to the development and validation of the ProffNurse SAS instrument for assessing nurses’ clinical competence. My research has a strong Nordic perspective, with an interest in education, competence development, and the future competencies required in nursing.

My broader research interests include clinical competence, nursing education and future competencies, digital healthcare, leadership and compassionate leadership, patient safety, and nurses’ well-being and career development.

Current research

My postdoctoral research builds on my doctoral work and focuses on the further use and development of the ProffNurse SAS instrument in Finland and Sweden. This work explores how the instrument can be applied in different educational and clinical contexts to support the assessment and development of nurses’ clinical competence and professional development.

At Arcada University of Applied Sciences, I am involved in the multidisciplinary research project Comprehending Compassion, which explores compassion in working life, with a particular focus on compassionate leadership and the development of more compassionate working environments.

Together with colleagues, I lead the Beds2Bytes initiative, which combines education, development, and research in digital healthcare. The project explores the competencies needed for digital care and how person-centered care can be maintained and strengthened in digital healthcare environments.

Clinical and educational expertise

My research and teaching are grounded in approximately ten years of clinical experience in surgical and perioperative nursing. This clinical background continues to shape my interest in the relationship between theoretical knowledge, practical skills, professional judgement, and person-centered care.

I hold a Master’s degree in Advanced Clinical Care, a pedagogical qualification, and a PhD in Health Sciences with a specialization in Caring Science. My Master’s thesis focused on improving patient safety through incident reporting, with particular attention to organizational change, development, and a no-blame culture.