Professional Development of Nursing Professionals

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Introduction

Nursing is one of the most popular professions in healthcare. To become a professional nurse, one must acquire certain level of education, whether it is at associate or baccalaureate degree level. Once becoming a nurse a number of professional standards must be maintained to stay abreast with the profession. In that respect, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in its 2010 report had suggested many recommendations focusing on the future of nursing. The aim of the report is to put forth recommendations that allow nurses to “(1) ensure that nurses can practice to the full extent of their education and training (2) improve nursing education, (3) provide opportunities for nurses to assume leadership positions and to serve as full partners in health care redesign and improvement efforts, and (4) improve data collection for workforce planning and policy making” (Institute of Medicine Report, 2010). The purpose of this paper is to review the IOM report and its impact on nursing, particularly nursing education, nursing practice and nursing leadership.

Impact of the IOM Report on Nursing Education

The future of nursing education is one of the main recommendations put forth in the IOM report. The report emphasizes on the need of highly-educated nurses and an improved education system. According to the IOM report, nursing education system in the last century does not meet the need for current health care challenges. Because of the complexity in patient care, nurses must highly competent in order to deliver exceptional quality care. Thus, changes in nursing education must be part of the overall changes being made to our country’s healthcare. The IOM also addresses the need for nurses to be adequately trained to care for a ...

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...than an associate degree. The IOM report also provides guidance for charge nurses in establishing goals as front line leaders. Furthermore, the IOM recommend that nurses should expand their horizon by working in full partnership with physicians and other health professionals.

References

Folan, P et al, (2012). Leadership initiatives to disseminate the Institute of Medicine’s future of

nursing. Policy, Politics, & Nursing Practice, 13(1):38-44.

Institute of Medicine of the National Acadamies. (2010). The Future of Nursing: Leading

Change, Advancing Health. Retrieve from http://www.iom.edu/reports/2010/the-future-of-nursing-leading-change-advancing-health.aspx

Sherman, RO , Schwarzkopf, R and Kiger, AJ,(2011). Charges nurse perspectives on frontline

leadership in acute care environments. International Scholarly Research Network,

2011:164052

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