Introduction
Nurses are an integral part of the medical system and play an essential role in healthcare. The Covid-19 pandemic has shown how necessary it is for nurses to cope with the challenges of the modern world. Building on this and previous experience, “The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity” aims to analyze the success of nurses in the twenty-first century and their prospects for the next decade (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2021). Nursing organizations should be supported to improve the health system significantly in the next ten years.
Foundations of the “Future of Nursing 2020–2030” Report
The importance of equal and fair access to medical services for all patients is emphasized, regardless of such parameters as social status, ethnicity, or gender, as well as sexual orientation. Nurses are an essential element of the health system that will achieve health equity since they are the ones who most often have direct contact with patients. Healthcare delivery and nursing ethics are inextricably linked: nurses have historically had moral codes. Also, nurses are the most numerous medical workers. Based on this, their work is vital for achieving equity in health care. To achieve this goal, nurses need quality training and practice.
One of the main objectives of this report was to develop ways to direct the development of nursing in this direction. A committee of 15 experts with expertise in nursing, education, health, economics, and the law has been established for this assignment (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2021). A significant difficulty faced by the committee was that previous studies that relied on nurses needed to adequately describe their specific responsibilities and roles (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2021). The committee formed its plan based on this and the experience gained during the Covid-19 pandemic.
A research framework was created to correctly understand how nurses can help the healthcare system embody the idea of health equity. It focuses on essential aspects such as the nursing workforce, leadership, nurse education, areas of responsibility, emergency management tactics, and care for nurses themselves. The work of nurses must be flexible enough to take into account all current trends. These trends include ethnic diversity in the population, new technological advances and models of health care delivery, and a growing awareness of the importance of global health care and the management of global health risks to humanity.
Evolving Trends in the Nursing Workforce
Nursing itself is a complex and demanding profession: it involves hard work not only from a physical point of view but also from a moral one. Nurses have to deal with sick people every day and, at the same time, maintain a good mood. In the case of infectious diseases, nurses are also at greater risk of infection from a patient than doctors (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2021). Such stress negatively affects well-being and performance, leading to a decrease in work efficiency and professional burnout. In addition, the low well-being of nurses is unacceptable from a moral point of view. In the long term, it will lead to a decrease in the popularity of this profession.
Recommendations Included in the Report
The report “The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity” is organized so that each chapter focuses on one of the above issues. The conclusions and recommendations of the committee are noted in the final chapter. The recommendations of experts suggest both personal and global changes. They are aimed primarily at nurses, the largest group of medical personnel in terms of numbers. The committee calls on nurse practitioners to listen to the advice and participate in the plan to improve the health system (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2021).
Also, the document’s target audience is politicians, educators, and people who impact the healthcare system and can help improve it. Specific actions proposed by the committee include the development of practices that will achieve health equity. These include mechanisms for public review of nursing, upgrading existing nursing organizations’ skills, optimizing how nurses are trained, and developing a system of rewards and incentives for medical personnel.
According to the committee’s projections, implementing these recommendations will significantly improve the quality of healthcare delivery and achieve health equity over the next decade. However, as can be seen, the initiatives described in “The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity” are primarily general. To specifically perform the tasks proposed there, there are state-based action coalitions. The activity of such coalitions consists directly of educating nurses, implementing new nursing methods, and reward mechanisms for medical personnel, which allows for achieving the goals set by the committee.
Initiatives by California’s Nursing Action Coalition
In California, the California Action Coalition is running similar initiatives. This organization leads many projects to improve the quality of medical services and achieve health equity. An example of one such industry is the fight against racism in healthcare. Racism is faced by both patients and nurses, which is unacceptable and utterly contrary to the idea of health equity. The California Action Coalition developed the 50 Questions About Racism project, which deals with the statistics and causes of racism in the medical field (Gualtieri, 2019). Collecting such data and educating people about this issue will improve nursing in the next ten years.
Another example of the California Action Coalition is the fight to make healthcare accessible to the broadest possible range of people—older people, as well as people with disabilities, face difficulties in getting to the medical facility. Homeless people and people with mental disorders often cannot get medical care.
Solving these problems and increasing access to health care is an essential task on the way to achieving health equity. The essence of the California Action Coalition is to develop services that would help patients with autism receive quality and timely medical care (Singer, 2021). The spread of such nursing practices will significantly impact the development of nursing in the next ten years.
Overcoming Barriers to Nursing Advancement in California
In California, there are several significant challenges that the California Action Coalition faces in implementing its initiatives. In the absence of a global system for screening and optimizing the work of nurses, innovations from one medical institution are more challenging to get to others and, therefore, spread more slowly. The advanced training system for nurses needs to be sufficiently established, which raises the problem of transferring experience to young specialists. However, nursing advocates successfully overcome these barriers by holding specialized events, conferences, and training where nurses can exchange experiences.
Conclusion
The institution of nursing is significant for the health care system in many aspects. Therefore, its development in the next decade and achieving health equity are necessary goals. The solutions proposed by the expert committee “The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity” will help achieve this goal. Organizations such as the California Action Coalition enable specific initiatives to be implemented. Maintaining the current course will significantly improve the healthcare system.
References
Gualtieri, C. W. (2019). The fight for accessible health care belongs to us all. Campaign for Action. Web.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2021). The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. Web.
Singer, A. (2021). 50 questions about racism in nursing. Campaign for Action. Web.