Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Committee Initiative
In the United States, nurses are tasked with the provision and transformation of healthcare services to patients. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation explores the roles played by nurses and the changes needed to improve the United States' healthcare system. With over 3 million workers, the United States' healthcare system needs to be revolutionized to meet healthcare needs for the 21 st century (Salmond & Echevarria, 2017). The training strategies adopted during the 20 th century cannot effectively deal with healthcare issues in the 21 st century. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation identifies three major fundamental transformation areas, practice, education, and leadership that nurses should undergo. First, there is a need to involve nurses in constant practice and education to equip them with relevant knowledge and skills to provide healthcare services. Likewise, nurses should be incorporated in leadership positions with other medical field professionals to assist them in acquiring more expertise on how to attend to patients. All these observations by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation led to the IOM report, "Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health."
Four Key Messages in the IOM Report
In their deliberations, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation identified four key messages that would be a pathway to improving the state of the healthcare system in the U.S. The first key message advocated for full extent practice for nurses in line with their level of education and training. In support of the first key message, the foundation formulated a second key message that recommended a well-structured educational system for the nurses to advance their education levels. The foundation went ahead and formulated a third key message that called for the full incorporation of nurses in leadership roles with other healthcare professionals. Lastly, the foundation developed a fourth key message that advocated for an improved information infrastructure to aid data collection for better policymaking. Through the four key messages, the United States' healthcare system will develop future nurse leaders who are fully equipped with the right education (Dyess et al., 2016). Also, appropriate strategies to deal with chronic diseases and care for elderly patients will be developed through the four key messages.
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The Role of State-Based Action Coalitions
The provision of quality healthcare has been envisioned in the United States' healthcare system for many years. To achieve its healthcare provision goals, several strategies have been formulated over the years. Among the formulated strategies is the state-based action coalitions, which are contained in the 2010 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report. State-based action coalitions’ main objective is to push for healthcare transformation locally in the United States (Hassmiller & Reinhard, 2015). The state-based action coalitions comprise nurses and business partners, who form strong networks to maintain and advance health status for local citizens. Through interactions with local citizens, the state-based coalitions obtain first-hand data on health issues that affect the people. Besides, the nurses can enhance their efficacy in dealing with health issues that affect people from the grassroots levels. According to Hassmiller and Reinhard (2015), the data collected by state-based coalitions assists the state government in prioritizing healthcare provision to people concerning the key health issues. Therefore, the strategies employed by the state-based coalitions are expected to impact the United States' healthcare system.
Program Initiatives for Nurses in New Jersey State
State-based coalitions have become profound in almost all the states in America. In New Jersey state, several initiatives have been developed by the state-based coalitions. Advancement in academic progression models and leap into leadership are the two most important initiatives in operation in New Jersey state. Through the two initiatives, nurses are equipped with leadership skills to improve healthcare provision among the people. The nurses are trained on how to be effective leaders among the local people. Educational advancement and leadership training are essential for enhancing healthcare provision in the United States (Hassmiller & Reinhard, 2015). As a result, New Jersey state has implemented education programs for the nurses. The state funds various academic progression models that assist nurses in acquiring more knowledge and skills that can effectively deal with health issues for the 21 st century. The two initiatives assist in enhancing nurses' expertise positively. Nurses in New Jersey states are provided with continuous training and skills acquisition programs. Also, they are constantly familiarized with emerging trends in the healthcare sector. As such, the two initiatives have contributed positively to nurses' professionalism in leadership, education, and practice.
Barriers to New Jersey’s Nursing Program Initiatives
Despite the initiatives that steer nursing professional advancement in New Jersey, nurses encounter several barriers when advancing their nursing professionalism. Firstly, racism is a profound issue in the whole of the United States. In the nursing profession, there are more white-skinned nurses than black-skinned ones (Iheduru-Anderson, 2020). New Jersey state does not offer equal opportunities for aspiring nurses to join the profession regardless of their skin color. The Blacks face numerous opposition from their White counterparts, thus, hindering them from joining the profession or engaging in practices that might advance their expertise. Secondly, the nursing profession in New Jersey state is characterized by gender inequality. The number of female nurses in New Jersey transverses that of male nurses by far. The nursing profession has for many years been regarded as a females’ profession. Therefore, males have been reluctant to join the profession. Thirdly, the nursing profession is characterized by heavy patient workloads that consume the time that nurses would have used to advance their professional expertise. Nurses spent long hours in the various healthcare facilities attending to patients, thus, they get very limited time to acquire new skills.
References
Cadmus et al,. (2018). Leading with the Community. Nurse Leader, 16(5).https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mnl.2018.06.002
Hassmiller, S., & Reinhard, S. (2015). A Bold New Vision for America's Health Care System, American Journal of Nursing. 115(2): 49 – 55. https://www.nursingcenter.com/journalarticle?Article_ID=2724381&Journal_ID=54030&Issue_ID=2724279
Anderson, K. (2020). Barriers to career advancement in the nursing profession: Perceptions of Black nurses in the United States. pp. 664-677. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/nuf.12483
Salmond, S., & Echevarria, M. (2017). Healthcare Transformation and Changing Roles for Nursing. 36(1): 12–25. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5266427/
