Nurses constitute the greatest sector of health care workers, and are vital to meeting the objectives of the 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA). Identifying the barriers that nurses face, and recommending a plan to overcome those barriers, were the goals of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in their two-year movement to “assess and transform the nursing profession” (The National Academies of Sciences, 2016). This paper will recapitulate the IOM report, Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health. It will also recognize the position of the RWJF and the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) on the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action. It will stress the implication of the IOM report as it relates to the nursing vocation and examine the objectives of the Future of Nursing: Campaign …show more content…
According to the CAC website, proposed incentives include higher pay for higher degrees, scholarships, grants, tax breaks, and loan forgiveness. Suggestions for schools include different start times, pairing hospitals with BSN programs, improving convenience, more relevant studies, increasing pay for teachers, reducing the number of classes for experienced RNs, and removing statistics from the curriculum. Hospital suggestions include flexible schedules for enrolled students, increasing recognition, increasing the number of mentors, increasing the opportunity for advancement, and eliminating ADNs from the bedside by 2020. Another initiative, also aimed at higher education, is to develop a standardized curriculum workgroup. Suggestions from the coalition include standardized simulation, a continuing mental health thread, decreasing obstetrics, labor and delivery, and pediatrics, standardizing RN to BSN curriculums, and developing relevant
The second key message focused on the recommendation that registered nurses receive greater levels of training and education. This message emphasized the need for nurses to enter the work force with a baccalaureate degree, or obtain it shortly afterwards. It also stressed the need more graduate nurses, specifically “nurse faculty and researchers at the doctoral level” (IOM, 2011, p. 164). Innovative solutions were devised to speak to nursing school capacity and curriculum in order to attain the IOM recommended goal of 80 percent of nurses holding a BSN by the year 2020.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed in 2010 with the goal of expanding healthcare coverage to all Americans by reforming insurance policies and practices (Tillett, 2011). The ACA upsurges the demand for an increase in primary care providers in order to supply quality care to the much larger population that will have coverage and therefore acquiring healthcare. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) through its report The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health has generated a solution to the shortage of primary care providers by promoting a transformation of the nursing profession to fill the gap.
Institute of Medicine (2010). The future of nursing: Leading change advancing health Retrieved from http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12956&page+R1
This paper focuses on providing a summary of the efforts of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Committee Initiative on the Future of Nursing and the Institute of Medicine research which influenced the IOM report, “Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health.” The importance of the IOM “Future of Nursing” report related to the nursing practice, nursing education and nursing workforce development will be stated. The role of state-based action coalitions and how they advance goals of the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action will be described. A summary on will be provided of two (2) initiatives that are spearheaded by Florida state’s Action Coalition with an explanation of ways in which the initiatives advance the nursing profession. Existing barriers to advancement currently in Florida and ways in which nursing advocates may overcome these barriers will be discussed.
Nurse Residency Programs are one way to make nursing practice safer for the patient and to keep nurses from leaving the practice. The Affordable Care Act will increase the number of patients receiving medical care over the next several years. We, as a nation, will need adequate numbers of nurses to fill the void. Many hospitals and universities are constructing nurse residency programs to meet that need. The designation of these programs is to increase knowledge, confidence and job satisfaction of new graduate nurses in their first year of practice. The AACN and University HealthSystem Consortium support the concept of nursing residencies. In 2004, an outline for nurse residency programs became available through their joint effort. Currently, 30 states are currently using the model successfully. The funding for nursing residencies is an area that needs addressing, federal funding for nursing education should include nursing residencies ("Nurse Residency Program," 2012). The purpose of this paper is to describe how this issue can move into a “policy window” using John Kingdon’s Policy Stream Model.
The recommendations called for increased opportunities for nurses to be leaders, manager, and executives in the various settings that they are employed. In addition, there was a push for more interdisciplinary collaboration during training as well as in the various levels of professional interactions (IOM, 2011). In practice these recommendations suggest more diverse performance measures, pooling of interdisciplinary funds, organizations supporting nurses in leadership, and encouraging nurses to work with information technology and medical device developers and manufacturers on new products.
There has been a drastic cut in both the Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates. According to Robert (2012), “cuts of more than $360 billion to Medicare and Medicaid will be made over the next 10 years. The focus of nursing needs to emphasize more on wellness care and prevention rather than acute care” (McNeal, G., 2012). Nursing practice will need to shift more towards community and population focused nursing. Baccalaureate prepared nurses are provided with a curriculum that includes both community health and leadership skills that are not included in the associate program. By encouraging associate’s degree nurses to obtain a bachelor’s degree in nursing, an increase in the awareness of the needs of the community and population may be seen. The IOM report has outlined the anticipated obstacles that healthcare will face if changes are not made. By allowing nurses to provide care within their full scope of practice, quality care may be provided at an affordable cost to the population. The use of advanced practice nurses in primary care may provide quality, access, and cost efficient healthcare to high-risk populations and possibly decrease hospital admission rates, thus lowering the overall cost of healthcare. If nurses partner with doctors and other healthcare providers, it may improve healthcare by providing seamless transitions (Institute of Medicine,
Current literature continues to reiterate the indicators of a major shortage of registered nurses (RNs) in the United States. The total RN population has been increasing since 1980, which means that we have more RNs in this country than ever before (Nursing Shortage). Even though the RN population is increasing, it is growing at a much slower rate then when compared to the rate of growth of the U.S. population (Nursing Shortage). We are seeing less skilled nurses “at a time of an increasingly aging population with complex care needs and an increasingly complex technological care environment” (Mion). According to recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Department of Health and Human Services, it is estimated that “more than a million new and replacement nurses will be needed over the next decade” (Diagnosis: Critical).
Zerwekh, J., Claborn, J. (2006). Nursing today: Transitions and trends (pp. 343-346). St. Louis, Missouri:
“I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy – I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it.” Art Williams describes people who are looking for the easy option with this quote. Something may be simple, but not necessarily easy to do for most people. It’s the people who willingly do the task many times, which make it look easy. Repetition improves skill to its greatest. Nursing school isn’t the easiest to overcome, but if you study and are willing to put in the effort, then you will eventually succeed at being a qualified nurse. Nurses are a necessity because they are the ones that spend more direct time with the patient, they are on the Frontline of administering the patients treatment. When you are a patient, nurses are your
The need for quality nurses nationwide continues to be a topic of hot debate in the healthcare field. As Americans continue to age and as the elderly population increases due to medical advancements, the need to sustain and retain the nursing workforce will be an area that is intently watched and regulated. According to the Department of Health & Human Services (2013), there was a 24.1% registered nurse (RN) workforce growth in the 2000s. None-the-less, the Bureau of Labor (2014), projects that sixteen states are going to experience an RN shortage by 2025 and it was stated that,
The job of a professional nurse today is one that requires high intellect, accountability, expertise, selflessness, dedication, and a compassionate heart to help those who are hurting. In past years, nursing has been regarded as a job and not a profession. Today, professional nurses assume the vital responsibility of upholding the moral and ethical principles of nursing in order to better advocate and care for their patients. These principles include autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, fidelity, justice, and veracity (Zerwekh and Garneau 2015, 423). Nurses today work autonomously to assist patient and write appropriate care plans, mentor student nurses, and facilitate communication between families, patients,
Health care reform has been a major issue over the past decade. The Nursing industry has in particular experienced a period of unpredictable change. On Dec 24, 2009, a landmark measure was passed in the senate by a vote of 60 to 39. This decision to pass the health care reform will change America forever. Nurses will constitute the largest single group of health care professionals. They will have a huge impact on quality and effectiveness in health care. The nursing industry will help hold this new program together by acting as the glue (The nursing industry will be the glue holding the new health care in tact.) It is estimated that by 2015 the number of nurses will need to increase to over 4 million. Nurses are the backbone of the health care industry thus creating better polices for this profession will help ease the workload and high demand. A nurse’s main concern is always to insure quality care and the safety of their patients. Under the new health care reform several new measures have been set into place to ease the transition and improve the quality of care for all patients. One program is designed to fund scholarships and loan programs to offset the high costs of education. Nursing shortages and the high turnover has become a serious epidemic. Health care reform is supposed going to solve many of these problems.
Nurses have always been an undervalued asset to the health care industry; however, there is always a great need for them. With more uninsured Americans requiring safe, affordable medical care, the pressing issue of nursing education is not a priority (Aiken, 2011). Recently, there have been modifications taken place toward the current nursing shortage, the decrease of nursing graduates, a workforce that is becoming older, and other factors that influence nurse educator shortage (Baker, Fitzpatrick, & Griffin, 2011). Nurse educators are required to advise students, complete research, and perform committee work all while teaching (Baker, Fitzpatrick, & Griffin, 2011). They also have multiple jobs outside of practicing nursing and teaching. Nurse educators have stressful roles that hold many expectations, yet there is no independence in making their own decisions concerning things. Aiken (2011) suggests that the best way to begin combatting this shortage should include increasing the number of nurses who hold a bachelor’s degree in nursing from 50% to 80% by 2020 (p. 196). Forty-eight percent of nurse instructors are expected to be aged 55 and older and are predicted to retire by this time. (Baker, Fitzpatrick, & Griffin, 2011).
Several years ago in 2008 the RWJF and the IOM collaborated for two years to discern the future needs of the nursing profession. Most importantly, the objective was to outline the critical actions needed to ensure nursing was ready to seamlessly move towards the future. This was no easy task as nurses work in such diverse settings such as outpatient areas, acute care settings, the community, and long term settings to name a few. Couple this with the fact that nurses have a variety of educational avenues such as the associates, diploma, or bachelor’s degree open to them to achieve the status of registered nurse (Institute of Medicine, 2010). All of this considered, the committee did design four key messages regarding the future of nursing as key in the transformation of health care as evidenced in their "Future of Nursing" report.