NUR 302 Nursing

Introduction

The United States of America has the absolute opportunity of transforming the health care system in providing affordable, quality, and seamless care that can be accessed to all citizens, evidence-based, patient-centered, as well as focusing on improving the health outcomes. For this transformation to be achieved, it requires and takes account of remodeling the various aspects within the health care system. Some of these factors are nurses-practice based blueprints such as ensuring that nurses are able to practice the extent of their training and educational skills to their fullest, providing opportunities for the nurses to step on leadership positions as well as serving as full partners within the healthcare improvement efforts and ideology contributors and lastly, improving data collection for work-force development, including policy-making and implementation. Thus, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) is focused on the future of nursing and responding to the need to transform the nursing profession despite several challenges in fulfilling the reformed healthcare sector as well as striving to meet the health needs at local, state, and national levels.

IOM report and Nursing

The IOM report basically entails the changes encountering health care as a result of demographics, technology and other factors in nursing. The IOM report strongly suggests recommendations for improving the future of the healthcare sector by as well as making the public and monitoring, reviewing, and coordinating the current health care system’s workforce data on a timely basis. Based on this, the IOM insist that nurses need to achieve higher educational levels and training skills through an improved system of education that promotes whole academic progression (Unroe, Ersek & Cagle, 2015). The reports also denote about the changes and expansion experienced in nursing within the last few decades that encompass teamwork, geriatrics, public health, leadership, as well as changes in management systems with technological advancements (Thom, et al., 2016). According to this report, several barriers are found to inhibit nurses from being in a good position to effectively respond to the rapidly changing health care system and the settings as well as the entire healthcare sector which is on a constant evolution. Nevertheless, these barriers need to be subdued to ensure that they get a well-positioned stand to lead and advance in the health industry.

Impact on Practice/Primary Care

The differences in the scope of practice occur across different settings, specialties, and organizations. Nurses should have a platform for exercising and practicing their education and training to the fullest. There is a need for effective workforce planning in identifying the needs of healthcare as well as illustrating the possible overlaps existing in the responsibilities and practices among the primary care provider (Dellefield, Castle, McGilton, & Spilsbury, 2015). Their roles, duties, and activities can equally be used in assessing and planning for the future workforce requirements for the nursing unit and used as a guide for any positive changes to nursing education and practice within the healthcare.

Impact on Nursing Leadership

As full partners in the healthcare sector, nurses should equally be given opportunity and take responsibility to contribute to the patient’s health. They should also collaboratively work as a team with the rest of healthcare specialists, from dietitians to doctors (Blumenthal, & McGinnis, 2015). In achieving this, the IOM report suggests for a gateway of leadership skills to be recognized as a fundamental competency at all levels of nursing, prioritized, and implemented throughout the nursing curricula. Nursing leaders should entail proficiency in their responsibilities of expertise which include identifying possible problems and inefficiencies, designing and implementing improvement strategies, assessing the effectiveness of these strategies, as well as adjusting strategies as needed. They should take leadership responsibilities in addition to their practical skills by joining commissions, committees, and boards whereby they can take part in policy making apart from just being policy followers.

Changing Personal Practice to Meet IOM Goals

Nurses have to practice to the optimum extent of their training and education. Despite having an exceptional amount of experience and education, nurses are required to cover the set standards in education programs that vary from one state to another in terms of standards, license requirement, and many other requirements (Dellefield, Castle, McGilton, & Spilsbury, 2015). There exist quite a number of obstacles such as regulatory, historical, and policy barriers, rocky transitions from class work to real practical skills, as well as the existence of complexity and fragmentation of the healthcare system.

Conclusion

Thus, regarding nursing practices, the IOM looks deep to several aspects within the healthcare unit that needs to be changed, including the nursing profession for the provision of affordable and effective health care services as an initiative take concerning the future of nursing. They include changing nursing practices to meet IOM fundamentals as well as the impact of nursing on leadership and practices.

References

Blumenthal, D., & McGinnis, J. M. (2015). Measuring Vital Signs: an IOM report on core metrics for health and health care progress. Jama, 313(19), 1901-1902.

Dellefield, M. E., Castle, N. G., McGilton, K. S., & Spilsbury, K. (2015). The relationship between registered nurses and nursing home quality: An integrative review (2008-2014). Nursing economic$, 33(2), 95-108.

Thom, K. A., Heil, E. L., Croft, L. D., Duffy, A., Morgan, D. J., & Johantgen, M. (2016). Advancing interprofessional patient safety education for medical, nursing, and pharmacy learners during clinical rotations. Journal of interprofessional care, 30(6), 819-822.

Unroe, K. T., Ersek, M., & Cagle, J. (2015). The IOM report on dying in America: A call to action for nursing homes. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 16(2), 90-92.