IOM Future of Nursing Report Recommendations, Research Paper Example

The year 2010 has always been considered a groundbreaking year in healthcare. The year was characterized not only by the signing of the Affordable Care Act into law but also by the issue of the IOM Future of Nursing report. The report advocated for significant changes in the roles, responsibilities, and education of the nurses in meeting the increasing number of healthcare demands and the making of improvements in the healthcare system. The report is important as it provides clear details on how technology, demographics, and other factors causing changes in health care affect the demand and expectation of nursing. Over the years, the report continues to greatly impact the nursing profession at an organizational, policy, and individual level. The report’s crucial goal was to improve the outcomes of the patients and enhance healthcare for the diverse populations, with nursing playing a major role in achieving the goal (Hassmiller & Reinhard, 2019). The report also provides us with several recommendations on how nursing can adopt a collective action that incorporates education, practice, and policies to adapt to the dynamic environment.

The IOM report acknowledges that nurses have a great level of potential to be leaders of innovative strategies to improve the healthcare system. The report’s findings indicated that the field of healthcare is not really tapping into all the potential that nurses have and that the nurses were not practicing to the full extent that they should be. Some of the barriers identified to be hindering the nursing practice included policy and regulatory barriers, turnover rates among nurses being high, difficult transition processes for the nurses from school to practice, an aging workforce, demographic challenges, and the healthcare system is fragmented (Perez et al., 2018). To mitigate such barriers, the report provided several recommendations that put into consideration the unique roles that the nurses play.

First, IOM recommends that through education and training, nurses ought to practice to their full potential. Although nurses may be equipped with an exceptional amount of education and experience, in reality, there exist a lot of barriers that hinder them from using their education and experience to their full potential. Such obstacles included a healthcare system that is fragmented and complex, policy and regulatory barriers, and a complicated transition process from school to nursing practice. Patients require care that is centered on addressing their unique needs. The report encourages the policymakers and the federal government to develop policies and regulations that promote the wider scope of practice and reforms for nurses. The reports also recommend that the transition from school to nursing practice should be well developed to ensure that the new graduates can acquire the relevant skills they need to practice. Enabling the nurses to practice to the full potential of their experience and training is therefore very important in improving patient care.

Second, the IOM recommends that nurses achieve higher education levels and train through an improved education system, which encourages seamless academic progression (Rekha, 2020). In the last few years, nursing’s core competencies have greatly changed, expanding to other aspects such as teamwork, leadership, public health, evidence-based care, management, and other components. In addition, with the changing technological advancement, digesting and providing unique care to patients has become more complex. This calls for the education system’s need to incorporate these and more features to enhance a seamless and simple academic progression. The report states that it is also important for the nurses to be educated together with other healthcare professionals as they continue with their education to increase team building and enhance respect among the different healthcare professionals.

Third, the IOM recommends that in the healthcare system redesign, it is important for the nurses to be full partners with other professionals in healthcare (Rekha, 2020). Putting into consideration the aspect of team building and education, IOM recognized that in the reform process, nursing had not been well represented and that there can be no true reforms without the input of nursing. The presence of nursing in advisory boards and teams should therefore be embraced. To achieve this goal, IOM suggested that it was important for all nursing levels to recognize leadership skills and that they should also be implemented in the curricula. Nurses should also be included in the decision-making processes. Also, they have to make it their responsibility to identify any problems, inefficiencies, and improvements that are necessary for the system. It is therefore important for the nurses to take on leadership responsibilities.

Fourth, IOM recommends that, for there to be workforce policy and planning that is effective, it requires the better collection of data as well as an information structure that is improved (Rekha, 2020). The healthcare industry ought to develop an organized system of collecting data on the exact number and type of healthcare professionals that exist, places where they are employed, and the roles, duties, and activities that they are given. With this information, it will be easier to identify whether healthcare needs are being met or not, which gives room for improvements. The data can then be used ineffectively, assessing and planning for the nursing workforce’s future and providing the necessary guide for nursing education and practice (Rekha, 2020).

The recommendations reflect on the nurses’ ability when it comes to closing the gap between access and coverage, which is important when it comes to coordinating patient care and improving the outcome of the patient, and enhancing healthcare. The recommendations also recognize how nursing professionals’ ability to provide advanced and improved care is undermined by the policies and regulations, professional tensions, and the scope of practice. Through the recommendation, IOM asserts the importance of transforming the work environment, education, scope of practice, and the transition process when it comes to creating a healthcare system that delivers patient care that is unique, accessible, and evidence-based when it is needed.

References

Hassmiller, S. B., & Reinhard, S. (2019). The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and AARP Story:: How Our Partnership Advanced the Future of Nursing. Nurse Leader, 17(5), 399-403.

Perez, A., Nichols, B., & Quinn, W. V. (2018). Growing diverse nurse leaders: The Current progress of the future of nursing campaign for action. Nurse Leader, 16(1), 38-42.

Rekha, S. G. (2020). The future of Nursing: Leading change, advancing health.