Recommendations Made In the IOM Future of Nursing Report
The 2010 IOM report on the future of nursing provides several recommendations regarding nursing roles in the healthcare landscape. One of the recommendations involves ensuring that nurses practice to the greatest extent of the educational as well as training achievements (IOM, 2010). The recommendation recognizes the variations in practice rules across different states, including the differences in the scope of practice of nurses. The recommendation recognizes the need to ensure that nurses can engage in a practice residency program, which is fundamental to supporting the need for nurses to transition from training to practice efficiently (IOM, 2010). The transition-to-practice provision can ensure that nurses develop the essential skills that can assist them in delivering safe, as well as quality care. Healthcare stakeholders should provide the support needed to ensure that nurses fulfill this recommendation.
The report also recommends that there is a need to improve the nursing education system. In this case, the system should encourage nursing to aim for the achievement of higher education as well as training in a system that facilitates smooth academic progression (IOM, 2010). The recommendation accounts for the need for nurses to enhance their competencies in different fields that include leadership, research as well as evidence-based practice, and health policy, among others (IOM, 2010). The achievement of these provisions requires a higher level of training. In addition to providing nurses with the opportunity for career advancement, the recommendation acknowledges that higher degree programs can enhance the diversity of the nursing workforce. Through the diversification of nursing practice, nurses will experience lifelong nursing, consequently enhance the safety and quality of care.
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IOM (2010) also recommends the need to recognize nurses as full partners in the provision of patient care. Strategies that can be implemented to cultivate as well as promote leaders in the nursing profession is essential for providing nurses with the skills needed for the improvement of care provision (IOM, 2010). By allowing nurses to become full partners in the healthcare field, they can take on the roles that can involve the identification of issues within their care practice, consequently implementing measures that can improve the situation. The recommendation also recognizes nurses as part of the healthcare professionals that can influence healthcare policy. For this reason, they can contribute significantly to the process of redefining healthcare. According to nurses, the status of full partners in the healthcare field can enable them to make a significant contribution to care policies, consequently improving the safety and quality of care.
The other recommendation relates to data collection for policymaking. IOM (2010) recognizes the importance of workforce planning as well as policymaking in the provision of care, which requires the implementation of improved data collection strategies, including the betterment of information infrastructure. In line with the mandates of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, the institution identifies the vital role of collecting and analyzing workforce data. The data acquired can be used to inform hiring policies. Conversely, the information can be instrumental in developing suitable provisions that can take care of the workforce needs. An assessment of the workforce needs is fundamental to implementing suitable measures for ensuring appropriate planning, which is a vital component to the provision of high-quality care.
Strategies to Implement the Recommendations to Advance the Profession of Nursing
Regulatory barriers can be identified as the fundamental issue related to the difficulty of implementing the recommendations. For this reason, one of the strategies that could be used would involve the removal of the regulatory barriers, which might call for the need to implement policies that would assist in facilitating the transitioning of the nurses from school to practice. Doing away with all the problematic regulatory barriers can also assist in the expansion of nurses’ scope of practice. For this reason, they can be allowed to provide patient-centered and high-quality care, owing to improvements made concerning their transition from the training to practice setting. Removing regulatory restrictions that on the scope of practice, particularly for advanced practice nurses, can allow them to prescribe medications, assess the condition of a patient, and admit a patient in a healthcare facility to provide safe and high-quality care.
The strategy that can be used to incorporate nurses as full partners in the healthcare field can include providing them with the opportunity to exercise their competencies within a collaborative care environment. According to Leggat, Balding, and Schiftan (2015), it is essential for practicing nurses, including student nurses, to take development leadership competencies. They can do so by being part of a collaborative environment in the healthcare setting, which can be realized through the implementation of mentorship programs. By implementing such a program, nurse leaders can take part in promoting leadership capabilities, thereby making it possible for individual nurses to develop the leadership skills needed for developing partnerships. The partnerships can enable the nurses to gain allies within as well as beyond the care environment.
In implementing the recommendation involving the need to improve the education system, the relevant institution, in this case, the National Center for Workforce Analysis, can participate in international nursing summits. Their participation in such forums can enable the institution to acquire essential information that can be used to highlight the most important facets in the education system that can be improved. On the other hand, the participation can provide nurse leaders with an opportunity to expand their network with leaders from other countries or states, consequently sharing information that could assist in the development of different areas that require improvement (Aguirre-Boza et al., 2019). The primary objective would be to develop a suitable action plan that could be used for role implementation, considering the diversity present in the nursing field (Aguirre-Boza et al., 2019). Conversely, the network can promote different nursing roles, including the development of different activities needed for understanding and spreading advanced practice concepts.
Personal Perspective of the Recommendations
The recommendations present an opportunity that could be of significant importance to the transformation of the healthcare system in the country. In this light, they recognize the vital role that nurses play in the transformation of the healthcare system. I believe that the IOM recommendations provide nurses with the power needed to improve the healthcare situation in the country, primarily through their participation in the policymaking process. Their participation is fundamental to improving the safety and the quality of healthcare provision, which is an essential component that cannot only improve the health and welfare of the people but also reduce the costs of providing high-quality healthcare. Affordable and quality care constitute the elements that are vital to improving the health of the people.
References
Aguirre-Boza, F., Mackay, M., Pulcini, J., & Bryant-Lukosius, D. (2019). Estratégia de implementação para a prática avançada de enfermagem na Atenção Primária à Saúde no Chile. Acta Paulista De Enfermagem , 32 (2), 120-128. doi: 10.1590/1982-0194201900018
Institute of Medicine (IOM). (2010). The future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health. Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.
Leggat, S. G., Balding, C., & Schiftan, D. (2015). Developing clinical leaders: the impact of an action learning mentoring programme for advanced practice nurses. Journal of Clinical Nursing , 24 (11-12), 1576-1584.
