The Future of Nursing, Leading Change, Advancing Health - Essay Example

? The Future of Nursing, Leading Change, Advancing Health” The Impact of the IOM Report: “The Future of Nursing, Leading Change, Advancing Health” Introduction Nursing refers to a healthcare profession that offers care to families, communities, and individuals and ensures the maintenance of optimal health and better quality of life. Nurses are the medical practitioners in this field of healthcare provision (IOM, 2010). Nurses are specialized in their trade and may operate separately as private practitioners or may work as a part of a team. Nursing profession is governed and defined by law and admission to the vocation is controlled by the state. Nursing as a healthcare profession is highly dynamic. This paper will discuss the impact that the 2010 IOM report had on the future of nursing, leading change and advancing health (Fitzpatrick, 2010). The 2010 IOM report was formulated by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) which is an interdisciplinary advisory authority that addresses matters pertaining to the health of the nation. This body was established in 1970 by a charter of the National Academy of Sciences. The body serves a broad spectrum of stakeholders who include health professionals, the private sector, policy makers and the public. In 2008, IOM in collaboration with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) came up with a policy document that suggested various changes to the nursing profession. This report suggested the broadest overhaul in healthcare provision since 1965. This report opened with four main messages and closed with recommendations most of which will be discussed in the subsequent sections of the paper (WHO, 2010). Key messages of the report The report dubbed “The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health” contained four key messages. These included: 1. The nurses’ practice should be to the full extent of their training and education. 2. They should attain higher levels of education and training through an improved education system that promotes flawless academic succession 3. Nurses should fully partner with physicians and other healthcare practitioners, in re scheming U.S. healthcare services. 4. Effectual personnel planning and policy making necessitate enhanced data compilation and an improved information infrastructure Key Message 1 This message that proposed that nurses should practice to the full extent of their training had two crucial subcategories. The first subcategory addresses the scope of the nurses’ practice while the second discusses their residency program. Subcategory 1: Scope of Practice Neuroscience nurses must be able to carry out their duties to the fullness of their training and education training despite their posting whether bedside nurses or advanced practitioners in the community (IOM, 2010). For this cause, the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses (AANN) tactical plan commissioned a task force to revise its 2002 scope and standards article. There is a need to incorporate the extent of practice for advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) with those of bedside nurses to enhance the brilliance in the neurosciences (IOM, 2010). Subcategory 2: Nurses’ residency Programs This subcategory addresses matters pertaining to nurses’ transition from school to real practice. At this time, there is a requirement to put into practice a multilevel residency curriculum to supervise admission into neuroscience nursing and throughout transitions to ranks of greater oversight (IOM, 2010). Key Message 2 The second main message of the IOM Future of Nursing report proposed that nurses should attain higher levels of education and training via an enhanced educational curriculum that endorses seamless academic progression (IOM, 2010). As an ongoing education contributor, AANN encourages the training of neuroscience nurses. It is also crucial that AANN reflect on supporting options comprising degree and non-degree courses, fellowships, and institutions that promote the education and support lasting learning of neuroscience nurses (IOM, 2010). This message auger well with two aims enshrined in the AANN strategic plan: a) To realize industry-wide dependability as a producer of excellent educational products b) To open up the global market and create opportunities for the provision of training in neuroscience nursing. Key Message 3 The third main message of the IOM Future of Nursing report appeals for nurses to fully partner with physicians and other healthcare practitioners, in re-scheming the U.S. healthcare services (IOM, 2010). To meet this objective, an alteration in the way nurses view their duty to patients and contacts with other healthcare practitioners is needed. Additionally, nurses must gain the requisite educational training to fit in this new healthcare model. The World Health Organization (WHO) has acknowledged the necessity for healthcare professionals to work together as part of a healthcare team. This will go a long way in ensuring effective delivery of healthcare services (WHO, 2010). Neuroscience nurses collaborate with other medical practitioners to provide top notch services to their patients. Sophisticated educational training and proficiency upgrades are essential to operate in this healthcare model. Neuroscience nurses must have a combination of skill sets that will allow them to function as team players, team leaders, and patient advocates. Enriching skill levels promotes confidence and presents the information integral to being part of re scheming neuroscience health care. While the shared opinion that most nurses lack broad and precise leadership abilities has been cited, the development of management skills is a precedence to help nurses surmount this hurdle (WHO, 2010). Mastery of these principal competencies is versatile, because management are learned and sharpened over time. Nursing tutors charged with critically assessing curricula must develop pertinent methods for learners to devise and exploit leadership skills in the course of their study. The necessity for continual learning and self-development activities, which stresses leadership skills, widens to practicing nurses also. Nursing associations such as the AANN have the chance to offer mentorship courses, leadership training, and leadership opportunities for its members (WHO, 2010). Key Message 4 The fourth key message of the IOM Future of Nursing report covers the effective planning and policy formulation, which requires improved data collection and enhanced information infrastructure. This message has two notable subcategories: the first addresses effective planning while the second to policy formulation. Subcategory 1: Effective planning With the aim of transforming U.S. healthcare provision effectively, present and future data concerning the healthcare personnel must be precisely collected and examined. Having workforce capability data will allow for the advancement of personnel model forecasts that will be helpful to the revolution of nursing practice and education (IOM, 2010). Subcategory 2: Policy Formulation President Barack Obama assented into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act (PPACA) on March 23, 2010. This legislation forms the main part of healthcare restructuring of the private and public health insurance plans. It amplifies insurance coverage for preexisting circumstances and targets to increase access to insurance for more people. Consistent with an April 2010 memo from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the probable impact of the PPACA on entire national health spending in the United States through 2010–2019 is an estimated increase of 0.9%. Furthermore, “the extra need for health services could be challenging to meet initially with current health provider resources and could result in price increases, cost-shifting…..” (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2010, p. 21). The AANN strategic plan identifies the objective to “inspire the progression of the subject of neurosciences” and the BOD acknowledges the necessity to participate in discussions with various stakeholders to monitor health policy matters and align with other associations to obtain the requisite data needed at this essential time. Recommendations Following each of the messages were the following recommendations: Recommendation 1: Remove scope-of-practice barriers The committee recommended that the APRNs be allowed to practice in the full extent of their training and education. This recommendation was addressed to various stakeholders who included the congress, state legislatures, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Office of Personnel management among others. For instance, the committee recommended that Congress expands the Medicare program so as to include coverage APRN’s services, amend the program to allow APRNs to conduct admission assessments and limit federal funding for nursing training programs only to states that comply with the Model Nursing Administrative Rules. Recommendation 2: Create opportunities for nurses to lead and diffuse collaborative improvement efforts All the players in the healthcare industry should open up opportunities for nurses and improve the expansion of leadership capacities and improve healthcare provision while at the same time cutting down on cost. The report further proposes the collaboration of public and private funders so as to fund advanced research into the field of healthcare provision to enable nurses contribute to improved healthcare (WHO, 2010). This recommendation also targets the health care organization that it encourages to develop innovative patient centered care practices. Further, Nursing associations are also encouraged to come up with curricula that encourages the nurses to develop and incorporate entrepreneurial skills in their practices so as to them contribute to healthcare advancements (Fitzpatrick, 2010). Recommendation 3: Implement nurse residency programs This recommendation appears to create support for the implementation of nurse residency programs. The recommendation targets State boards of nursing and health care organizations. The report urges the State boards to work with likeminded parties to support nurses in their transition from school into real practice. The State boards should also guide and support nurses who are transitioning to advanced areas of healthcare practice. On the other hand, the health care organizations are urged to work collaboratively with other players to fund and support residency programs for nurses (Fitzpatrick, 2010). Further, the healthcare organization should evaluate and amend the existing residency programs to tally with the market demand. Recommendation 4: Increase the proportion of nurses with a baccalaureate degree to 80 percent by 2020. Academic institutions should partner with funders to increase the percentage of nurses accessing a baccalaureate degree. This would go a long way in ensuring that more students access quality nursing education. All nursing schools should have defined curricula that chats the pathway that a student has to follow to attain a higher level of education. Health care organizations should encourage nurses with diploma degrees to enroll for a baccalaureate degree; this they can do by giving education grants to the nurses. Private and public funders should also pool their resources to expand baccalaureate degree openings for nurse students (Fitzpatrick, 2010). Recommendation 5: double the number of nurses with a doctorate by 2020. Nursing schools should encourage nurses to pursue doctorate degree programs so as to open up chances for research and increase diversity within the faculty of nursing (Fitzpatrick, 2010). The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education should monitor the number of baccalaureate degree holders and encourage at least 10% of these holders to pursue master’s and doctorate degrees. Learning institutions should devise accelerated degree programs to encourage more nurses to enroll. Recommendation 6: ensure that nurses engage in lifelong learning Faculty should collaborate with health care organizations to renovate and prioritize skills, so curricula can be restructured frequently to guarantee that graduates at all levels of meet the present and future health requirements of the population. Academic leaders should encourage all faculties to partake in ongoing professional training and to perform with advanced expertise in practice, research and teaching (Fitzpatrick, 2010). Recommendation 7: prepare and enable nurses to lead change to advance health. Nurses should be responsible for their individual and professional development by furthering their education and looking for opportunities to grow and hone their leadership skills. Nursing associations should afford leadership development, and chances to lead for all their members. Nursing training programs should incorporate leadership philosophy and business practices across the curricula, including clinical practice. The training programs should combine business practices and leadership theory across the curricula, including clinical practice (WHO, 2010). Recommendation 8: Build an infrastructure for the collection and analysis of inter professional health care workforce data The Workforce Commission and the Health Resources and Services Administration should establish for the gathering of the lowest data set by government licensing boards; supervise, synchronize, and store the data, and avail the data to the public (Fitzpatrick, 2010). The Workforce Commission and the Health Resources and Services Administration should also maintain, but bolster, the Health Resources and Services Administration’s registered nurse model survey by escalating the sample size and conducting the survey annually, and releasing survey outcomes more often. The Commission should harmonize workforce research attempts with the Department of Labor, state and regional educators to recognize regional health care personnel needs, and ascertain regional goals and plans for suitably increasing the supply of the workforce (Fitzpatrick, 2010). In my opinion, this report will impart positively on the nursing profession. Firstly, the report if adopted in its entirety will promote professionalism in the field of nursing. Secondly, nurses will be afforded wholesome training that inculcates leadership skills to their training. Thirdly, the broadening of the scope of practice for nurses will allow APRNs to exercise what they have gathered from training (Fitzpatrick, 2010). This would go a long way in encouraging other nurses to pursue baccalaureate, master’s and doctorate degrees. With the adoption of the report, much will change in the field of nursing. Funding will be availed for those willing to pursue higher learning (Fitzpatrick, 2010). More collaboration will be seen between the practitioners in the nursing field and other medical practitioners. In all, an improved nursing practice will ensure that patients receive top notch health care. Reference Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Office of the Actuary. (2010, April 22). Estimated financial effects of the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” as amended. Retrieved April 25, 2012 from www.cms.gov/ActuarialStudies/downloads/PPACA_2010-04-22.pdf. Institute of Medicine. (2010). the future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. Institute of Medicine. (2010). Redesigning continuing education in the healthcare professions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. World Health Organization. (2010). Framework for action on interprofessional education and collaborative practice. Geneva: Author. Fitzpatrick, J. (2010). The future of nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health. Nursing Education Perspectives. 31(6), 347. Read More