The Future of Nursing, Research Paper Example

The Future of Nursing: A Brief Examination of the Changing Trends in the Field of Nursing

In the chapter “Into The Future,” the authors of “Professional Nursing Practice: Concepts and Perspectives” first chose to look back as a means of predicting the future. They examine some of the major trends, changes, and outright revolutions that took place in the 20th Century as a means of predicting what the trends, changes, and revolutions of the next century might be. There have been numerous changes in the field of nursing, from techniques to practices to education, and we will likely see even greater changes in all these areas as we move into the 21^st Century (Blais & Hayes, 2010). All of these various areas intersect and overlap, culminating in the practical realities of what nurses will face in the workplace of today, and the future.

Perhaps the greatest paradigm shift in medical care was the rise of “managed care,” wherein patients would purchase insurance that gave them access to a specific group of physicians, clinics, and other facilities. The premise of managed care is that the health care workers in the group would work to ensure the wellness of patients, which would then ensure less use of the group’s facilities, and thus ensure that costs were contained (Blais & Hayes, 2010).

In this environment, nurses have had to expand their skill sets far beyond those of simply following doctor’s orders and taking care of patients’ medical needs. They must now understand the complexities of all areas of patient care, from assessing their needs at the beginning to coordinating their care to understanding and containing costs for the patient. Additionally, nurses must promote wellness and prevention, extending the benefits of their knowledge and education beyond simply addressing a patient’s immediate concerns (Blais & Hayes, 2010)s much as the set of skill needed to be an effective nurse has grown in recent decades, it will only continue to do so in the future.

With the changes in the health care system have come changes in the way care is administered at all levels, from doctor’s offices to hospital visits. This has led to an increasing dependence on “multi-skilled workers;” these unlicensed workers can administer basic levels of care under supervision. This increasing reliance on multi-skilled workers means that nurses are increasingly thrust into supervisory roles, and this trend will only continue to grow in the future (Blais & Hayes, 2010).

In the book “Nursing Theorists and Their Work,” the authors discuss the concept of patients being seen as “holistic, adaptive systems” (Marriner-Tomey & Alligood, 2006). This view, that patients must be seen as more than just their ailments, is a fundamental concept for nurses of today and of the future. With the ever-increasing reliance on HMOs and other forms of managed care, wellness, prevention, and education (not just the nurse’s education, but the patient’s as well) will be of prime importance. As noted, nurses will need to understand not just the immediate needs of a patient, but must also wear many other hats, from that of supervisor of multi-skilled employees to that of educator for illness prevention to accountant for cost-containment and insurance strategies (Marriner-Tomey & Alligood, 2006).

As I advance in my nursing career, I increasingly understand these concerns, and recognize that the “future” of nursing actually begins today, with me. The role of the nurse has changed immeasurably and irrevocably over the last hundred years, growing from the simple –yet still demanding- task of assisting doctors to that of a multi-skilled, multi-talented health-care worker with an ever-growing set of demands on his or her time and set of skills. Key to adapting and thriving in this ever-changing environment is the need for nurses to be proactive, to take charge of, and responsibility for, fostering their own education and skill sets. Further, nurses must work to promote educational opportunities and workplace initiatives that will benefit themselves and the field of nursing in general. “Transforming Care at the Bedside” (TCAB), is an example of such an initiative; funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation  (RWJF), it is a program that seeks “to improve processes and outcomes” in hospitals and other health-care environments (Unruh & Agrawal, 2009).

As is the case with almost everything in life, the key to success is not to wait for opportunities to come along, but to make them happen. From large-scale programs such as TCAB, which involve the efforts of nursing organizations, to small, personal efforts on the part of individual nurses to advance their own education and their own set of patient-care skills, the future of nursing is rife with opportunities and challenges. I look forward to meeting these challenges, and to exploring –and creating- my own opportunities in the years to come.

Works Cited

Unruh, L, & Agrawal, M. (2009). The business case for tcab. RWJF: Publications and Research, Retrieved from http://www.rwjf.org/pr/product.jsp?id=50009

Marriner-Tomey, A, & Alligood, M R. (2006). Nursing theorists and their work. St. Louis, MO: Mosby/Elsevier.

Blais, K, & Hayes, J. (2010). Professional nursing practice:concepts and perspectives. Prentice Hall.