The Future of Nursing in an Evolving Health Care System - Research Paper Example

Nurses were required to be enjoined in talks regarding transformation of healthcare service delivery by giving them a greater voice and control in making reliable and effective decisions (RWJF, 2012a). The transformation was aimed at reforming the healthcare delivery approach and ensuring patients received better and reliable care at much lower costs that they could afford. To make service delivery more affordable and efficient, nurses had to be made the center of the discussions as they are much closer to patients in healthcare facilities.

Such were the proposed strategic decisions to transform the Future of Nursing in advancing healthcare delivery. The IOM report on the future of Nursing was of much importance in the nursing profession. Nurses have varying levels of education and competencies raging from the licensed practicing nurses who in most cases are in contact with patients in nursing homes, to nurse scientists who are actively involved in research work on how to improve the care of patients and improving the nursing profession.

The IOM report considered all classes of nurses across education levels, roles, and settings in envisioning the future of the profession (Institute of Medicine, 2010). Such an approach implied all nurses regardless of their duties and settings were empowered through the committee recommendations. In addition, the report suggested that all nurses had to be given room to practice to the full extent of training or education. This is important because; nurse licensing and practice are widely varied across states, with the regulations related to the scope of practice defining what activities a qualified nurse has to perform, all which affect different nurses in different ways (Institute of Medicine, 2010).

Moreover, the recommendations of the IOM committee sought to improve the nursing profession by recommending that nurses had to achieve higher levels of education and training by going through a much improved education system