Summary on The Future of Nursing: Institute of Medicine (IOM) - Essay Example

Summary on the Future of Nursing: Institute of Medicine (IOM) Summary on the Future of Nursing: Institute of Medicine (IOM) The Institute of Medicine (IOM) report involves an analysis of how the roles of the nurses, their responsibilities and skills should meet the needs of the concerned population. The health care system is always evolving. According to Shalala (n.d), the roles of the nurses must always meet the needs of the clients regardless of their status, aged or young. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) report entails a number of recommendations that focus on how the needs of the clients should be met and what the nurses ought to do so as to serve the clients in an efficient way.

This essay will summarize the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and what the nurses need to do so as to provide efficient services to the clients. According to Shalala (n.d), the first recommendation involves reducing the barriers that hinder practice of nursing. This recommendation argues that nurses need to be given a chance to work to their full potential. This involves applying the skills learnt from their training and education (Finkelman & Kenner, 2012). It is in this context that it recommended that the congress is charged with the role of increasing the number of registered workers in the health setting.

Registered nurses also need to be embraced by the Medicare and Medicaid services (Finkelman & Kenner, 2012). Secondly, nurses need to be given a chance to improve the present services by redesigning the current health systems to improve service delivery (Finkelman & Kenner, 2012). These efforts should then allow for the public and private sectors pulling efforts to improve the nursing sector. The third recommendation involves the making it easier for the nurses to transit to a practice program (Finkelman & Kenner, 2009).

This involves aiding the nurses get to practicing nurses even after pre-licensing. The States Board of nursing is charged with the responsibility of ensuring that that the nurses successfully complete their residency program (Finkelman & Kenner, 2012). The next recommendation proposes that the number of nurses with degrees increase by 80 % by the year 2020 (Finkelman & Kenner, 2012). This increase as argued by Shalala (n.d) will help in meeting the growing demand for service delivery. Fifth, the number of nurses with doctorates should also be doubled by 2020 so as to increase the number of nurses with better skills and diversity (Finkelman & Kenner, 2009).

It is also vital that the nurses engage in lifelong learning, according to recommendation six (Shalala, n.d). The accrediting organizations, nursing schools, educators and health professionals should ensure that this happens if efficient care has to be provided throughout a patient’s life. Nurses also need to be prepared to lead transformations so as to advance the health service provision (Finkelman & Kenner, 2012). This interprets that the nurses need to take over leadership provisions so as they make appropriate decisions regarding the health sector.

Lastly, the collection of data on the health care workforce is recommended by the IOM report. This will make it easy for the access of data and information on a particular group of practitioners (Finkelman & Kenner, 2012). Conclusively, the IOM report focuses on improving the health sector and ensuring that the nurses work in a conducive environment; thus, efficient service delivery to patients. With an implementation of the recommendations, it is evident that the health sector will be a successful one.

References Finkelman, A. & Kenner, C. (2009). Teaching IOM: Implications of the Institute of Medicine Reports for Nursing Education. NY: Nursesbooks.org.------------------------ (2012). Learning IOM: Implications of the Institute of Medicine Reports for Nursing Education. NY: American Nurses AssociationShalala, D., Bolton, L., Bleich, M., Brennan, T., Campbell, R., Devlin, L., Dower, C., Gonzalez-Guarda, R.,Goodman, D., Hansen, J., . Harris, M., Hinman, A., Novelli, W., Orsolini-Hain, L., Partida, Y.

, Reischauer, R., Rowe, J. & Vladeck , B. (n.d). The Future of Nursing, Leading Change, Advancing Health. Report Recommendations. Washington, DC: The Institute of medicine of the National Academics.