Implementation of the IOM Future of Nursing ReportChioma OnukwughaGrand Canyon University: NRS-440V
January 22, 2017
Implementation of the IOM Future of Nursing ReportRobert Wood Johnson Foundation Committee Initiative on the Future of Nursing is an initiative that was developed to offer recommendations and enhance the nursing profession using the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report as a guide to address the rapidly changing health care needs of Americans (National Academies of Sciences, 2017). The increased demand for quality health care services warranted the initiation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by president Barack Obama in 2010. The nursing profession being the largest in number in the healthcare workforce is a great asset in achieving the goals that have been set by ACA (National Academies of Sciences, 2017). Nurses must be educated and trained to the fullest to deliver competent care to the evolving and changing population; thus, meeting the goals set by ACA. As a stakeholder in the healthcare industry, the RWJF committee are knowledgeable about the role and importance of nurses in the healthcare industry. Resulting from this, the IOM chose the committee on the RWJF initiative on the future of nursing to develop commendations for an action-oriented blueprint for the future of nursing (National Academies of Sciences, 2017).
This paper will be discussing the RWJF initiative on “The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health”. The significance of the IOM report as it relates to nursing practice, education, the growth of the nursing workforce, and the role of Maine state coalition in advancing the goals of the future of nursing will also be discussed in this paper.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative
One of the numerous goals of the ACA included quality, affordable and accessible healthcare services to every individual in the country. To meet up with the ACA set goals, nurses as part of the healthcare workforce ought to be educated, trained and practice their profession without limitations and barriers. Nurses accounts for the largest number of healthcare professionals in our country (National Academies of Sciences, 2017). They often encounter so many barriers that serves as a hindrance in the practice of their profession. These barriers prevent nurses from effectively and efficiently delivering competent care to the evolving and changing populations in the country. The RWJF realized that the health care reform will result in rapid increase in the number of Americans that will be insured and that nurses being the largest healthcare providers in the country would be the primary care deliverers if they are ready to meet up with the evolving and changing demands. The IOM issued out a report that encouraged nurses to step up and take more roles in the rapidly increasing, changing and complex healthcare system. The American Nurses Association commended the IOM for their recent published report on the nursing profession and recognizes the need for nurses to attain leadership positions in all settings to meet the demands of our changing health care system (ANA, 2016). The report resulted in the development of the Initiative on the Future of Nursing funded by the RWJF.
The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) and the RWJF together initiated a campaign “The Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action”. The goal of the campaign was based on the six recommendations made by IOM in their report. The six recommendations included improvement in care access, encouragement in interprofessional collaboration, endorsing nursing leadership, changing nursing educational system, increasing variety in nursing profession, collecting labor force statistics (Campaign for Action, n.d.). Resulting from the campaign, 51 states with District of Columbia inclusive have action coalitions where they hold regular meetings with healthcare specialists, politicians, business leaders to respond to the increased needs for quality, safe and effective healthcare (Campaign for Action, n.d.).
The IOM in collaboration with the committee on the RWJF initiative on the future of nursing developed a plan that will assess the ability of the nursing workforce to meet the demands of the changing health care and public health care system (National Academies of Sciences, 2017). The committee developed a national recommendation that addressed the capability of the nursing educational system and delivery of nursing services in an insufficient environment (National Academies of Sciences, 2017). The committee also developed a plan of action that included changes in public and institutional guidelines at the national, state and local levels. The committee also made commendations on how to address numerous changes in the healthcare system which included creative solutions to the shortage of nurses in the country (National Academies of Sciences, 2017). These recommendations highlighted the changes that are needed to be made to be able to competently care for the complex healthcare issues of the population that are imminent.
The Importance of the IOM report on the Future of Nursing
The IOM report has tremendously made a great impact on the nursing practice, education and workforce. Registered nurses are now been educated and trained to competently care for the evolving population. The impact of the report influenced some hospitals globally to stop hiring nurses with Associates Degree because they consider them incompetent in caring for the population with complex health problems. Nurses that have BSN qualifications have been able to deliver competent care to the evolving population because of the level of education that they attained in school in comparison with nurses with Associates Degree. The IOM report has also influenced most healthcare facilities in adopting the nurse residency program which enables new graduate nurses to develop the skills that they need to competently deliver care to the populations, reduce turnover rates, and yield good patient outcomes. Per Fackelmann (2013), a survey was conducted on 447 nurse executives in hospitals, nurse-led clinics and home and hospice care companies. Results from the research showed that 80% of them would prefer to hire a nurse with a baccalaureate degree in their institutions.Following the IOM report, nurses now have an improved and enhanced educational curriculum. There has been increased number of nursing schools globally and increased number of nurses that have returned to school to advance their career. The IOM recommendation wants 80% of nurses to have their BSN by 2020. Per American Association of Colleges of Nursing (as cited in Jimenez, 2015), many nurses have returned to school to advance their career and there are many institutions, communities and states that will attain the 80/20 set goal. Per Fackelmann (2013), 94% of employers in a survey conducted offers tuition reimbursement to their nurses to encourage them to advance their career to a BSN level or higher.
The committee recommended improved infrastructure and workforce data analyzation as a necessity for systematic assessment and projection of the requirements by the workforce. Preparation for grave variation in the education and the deployment of the nurses’ effective workforce will require a complete and thorough data on the type and the entire sum of health specialists including the number of nurses available presently and the totality needed to satisfy the future needs. Nurses have taken some leadership positions across the healthcare setting following the IOM report. There has been improvement in the nursing workforce on the Bachelor’s Degree Level but not significantly on the Master’s or Doctoral Degree level. Nurses will continue to work on this goal set by the IOM.
The State Initiative
The state-based coalitions play a role by:
Guaranteeing high quality of health care. Nurses are committed in providing quality healthcare to the evolving populations with complex health problems. The states conduct inspections in various healthcare facilities to ensure that the set standards are being respected by various facilities.
Working with the campaign for action to implement the recommendations of the IOM report. Improvements have been noted in the nursing services rendered in the states. Nonetheless, some of the states’ stakeholders have reportedly failed to cooperate with the campaign resulting in barriers in achieving outlined goals.
Maine Action Coalition
The Maine Action Coalition is in the process of creating state-of-the-art solutions where nurses are leading the way to address Maine’s health challenges. To improve the future of nursing and attain the goals that has been set by IOM, the state of Maine created two initiatives:
“Implementation of a new project to develop leadership in the state. This project will enhance the number of nursing board placements by at least ten people from minority groups. A leadership program will be distributed and a mentoring program will be executed” (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2017). Nurses assuming a leadership position will enable nurses to be prepared to lead the advanced and evolving healthcare setting.
Encouraging diversity in Maine is very important for the healthcare providers. Maine has looked at the demographics of the state and are determining ways of attracting minority healthcare workers to their state. Encouraging diversity in the state of Maine will expose them and prepare them to care for the diverse healthcare population. There hasn’t been significant increase in the minority groups in Maine but there are hopes of having an increase in the future.
Certain barriers have ben encountered in implementation of these set goals by IOM. One of them are limited number of nurses with advanced degrees (Masters and Doctoral degrees) to take over leadership positions in Maine. Maine is continuously working with their leaders, Board of nursing and ANA Maine to develop strategies that will be best utilized in resolving these problems.
References
American Nurses Association. (2016). IOM future of nursing report. Retrieved from http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ThePracticeofProfessionalNursing/workforce/IOM-Future-of-Nursing-Report-1
Campaign for Action. (n.d.). About: Our story. Retrieved from http://campaignforaction.org/about/our-story/
Fackelmann, K. (2013). Studies assess the impact of IOM report on nursing reforms. Retrieved from https://publichealth.gwu.edu/content/studies-assess-impact-iom-report-nursing-reforms
Jimenez, S. (2015). National nurse leader talks about the campaign’s progress and future plans. Retrieved from https://www.nurse.com/blog/2015/12/10/iom-releases-progress-report-on-future-of-nursing-2020-goals/
National Academies of Sciences. (2017). The future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health. Retrieved from http://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/Reports/2010/The-Future-of-Nursing-Leading-Change-Advancing-Health.aspx
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. (2017). Expanding opportunities for nurses to lead collaborative improvement efforts in Maine and improving nursing-workforce data. Retrieved from http://www.rwjf.org/en/library/grants/2015/02/expanding-opportunities-for-nurses-to-lead-collaborative-improve.html
