Institute of Medicine (IOM) Makes New Recommendations for the Future of Nursing

According to a recent report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) entitled, “The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health," nurses' roles, responsibilities, and education should change significantly to meet the increased demand for care that will be created by healthcare reform and to advance improvements in America's increasingly complex health system.

 

With more than three million nurses in the United States, nurses make up the largest segment of the healthcare workforce. They also spend the greatest amount of time in delivering patient care as a profession, and therefore have valuable insights and unique abilities to contribute as partners with other healthcare professionals in improving the quality and safety of care as envisioned in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) enacted this year. However, there are currently many barriers that prevent nurses from practicing to the full extent of their education and training.

 

According to Kaiser Health News, an estimated 32 million additional Americans will have health coverage beginning in 2014 through the Affordable Care Act; yet the Association of American Medical Colleges reports that there will be a shortage of some 63,000 doctors across all specialties in America. IOM's committee believes that nurses can help ease the shortage.

 

In order to meet the demand, the report calls for states, federal agencies, and healthcare organizations to remove regulatory and institutional obstacles -- including limits on nurses' scope of practice which dictate what care people who are not physicians can provide -- so that the health system can reap the full benefit of nurses' training, skills, and knowledge in patient care. The IOM recommends nurses should also have more responsibilities in patient care and more opportunities to gain leadership skills.

 

According to Kathleen Potempa, dean of the University of Michigan School of Nursing and president of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), “Meaningful healthcare reform cannot occur unless the nursing profession takes decisive and collaborative action to fully engage in redesigning the nation's healthcare system. The IOM report lays the groundwork for uniting the profession around shared priorities and achievable goals. Implementing these recommendations will propel the nursing profession forward and better position nurses to become full partners in reforming our healthcare delivery system.”