Introduction
Nursing needs continuous advancement to be able to keep up with the rapidly changing health needs of patients (Gray, 2016). The report issued by the Institute of Medicine is a document that provides a valuable, detailed, and evidence-based review of current issues in healthcare and strategies to address them. The changing healthcare environment itself proclaims the need for such initiatives (Shaffer, Davis, Dutka, and Richardson, 2014). This issue underlines the necessity for examining the report’s key provisions.
The Impact of the IOM Report on Nursing Education
The IOM has set forth a number of improvements to be made to nursing education, which are of utmost importance to healthcare and able to change it for the better. The report outlined a shortage of nurses with higher degrees of theoretical and practical knowledge and proposed a series of degree transitions. It can be expected that educators will also become concerned with the problem and start elaborating solutions in order to make such education initiatives a reality. The report also explains the major barriers to raising the level of education among undergraduate nurses and promoting higher education. Provided legislators and nursing education experts acquaintance themselves with the data presented in the IOM report, it could save vast amounts of energy and time to plan the development of the nursing education institutions.
Additionally, the report provides up-to-date statistical and experimental data that ensures the quality of argument and gives even more reason for executives to take up action on its basis. It outlines a variety of practices such as the wider introduction of community nursing education programs, increasing the affordability of higher education through grants and scholarships, education through core competencies, and many more (IOM, 2011). These suggestions even further simplify the work for educators and provide feasible goals and actions to commence changes in the education system. The vision of nursing future that the IOM report demonstrates pictures a caregiver that is highly trained, skilled, and has a vast theoretical knowledge of advanced nursing practices. With the help of the report, the education of tomorrow can be more affordable, smart, and effective provided the key stakeholders inspect and discuss it in detail.
The Impact of the IOM Report on Nursing Practice
The report outlines major challenges of both ground-level practice and management. Among those, it mentions the length of stay in the hospital, limited primary care capacity, care coordination, and a number of other issues (IOM, 2011). Given the topicality of the problems, which is confirmed by reputable sources, and the practical experience of the authors, the report makes an immense contribution to the paramount task of raising awareness. By observing both positive and negative practices throughout the U.S. and the world, the report shares knowledge about improvement strategies that may be usable in a variety of settings. It acts both as a toolbox and guidebook of practical solutions for those eligible to introduce workplace changes. The authors advocate for advancing the roles of APRNs and RNs in primary care settings providing success stories and statistics as arguments, which may help develop this setting through the use of human potential.
To my mind, it is in my power to contribute to the quality of primary care by furthering my knowledge and advancing my skill through continuous practice and education. By opting to educate me, I bring the primary care sector closer to the higher quality of services, which is claimed to be one of the main goals of the IOM report.
The Impact of the IOM Report on the Nurse’s Role as a Leader
The report envisions that the nurse leader of the future demonstrates a higher level of concern about the interprofessional nature of nursing work. A new type of leader would encourage collaboration not only between colleagues of similar backgrounds but also between professionals with different skill sets and knowledge to increase the versatility of each team member’s experience (IOM, 2011). Ultimately, the report envisions future leaders organizing all processes to serve the goal of increasing the quality of patient experience, their health outcomes, and job satisfaction of the staff (IOM, 2011). For nurse managers, this report is of great assistance as it provides evidence for advanced leadership practices. This fact could convince the readers to change their attitudes towards a multitude of issues including interprofessional collaboration, multilevel leadership, leadership education, and more.
Conclusion
All things considered, the IOM report is a document that wields the power to change the mindsets of a variety of stakeholders. Nurses of various skills and backgrounds could learn of new opportunities to change their practice in order to increase their job satisfaction, the rate of pay, and quality of service. Educators could receive a detailed outline of current issues in the sphere, and ways to tackle them evidenced by quality research. Nursing leaders could gain knowledge and motivation to advance their practices and correct their priorities to be better suited for changing working environments. Personally, I benefitted from getting acquainted with the report through receiving a better understanding of current healthcare issues and ways I could contribute to resolving them.
References
Gray, A. (2016). Advanced or advancing nursing practice: What is the future direction for nursing? British Journal of Nursing, 25(1), 8-13.
Institute of Medicine (IOM). (2011). The future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Shaffer, F. A., Davis, C. R., Dutka, J., & Richardson, D. R. (2014). The future of nursing: Domestic agenda, global implications. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 25(4), 388-394.