Introduction
Cotemporary healthcare of the Unites States and the world faces many problems that need solutions. The implementation of such solutions is even more important because it can improve health. In the United States, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) leads discussions, introduces experts, and conducts research to provide efficient solutions that can stimulate health care reforms and result in positive changes.
One of the significant aspects necessary for the successful reformation of the health care system is focus on strengthening its workforce – nurses, who make the biggest part of health care professionals. As of 2010, there have been over three million of registered nurses in the US. IOM created the Initiative on the Future of Nursing in cooperation with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) (Committee on the RWJF Initiative, 2011).
This mutual effort was supposed to provide a more visible and credible approach to the issue of nursing care and leadership. The report issued as the result of the IOM and RWJF cooperation had to answer a question concerning the role of nursing to address “the increasing demand for safe, high-quality, and effective health care services” (Committee on the RWJF Initiative, 2011, p. xi). The current paper analyses the actions of the RWJF initiative committee in cooperation with the IOM, discovers the importance of the report for nursing practice, nursing education and nursing workforce development, and reviews the role of state-based action coalition of Florida and its advances to the goals of the Future of Nursing report.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Committee Initiative for the Future of Nursing and the Institute of Medicine Research
The cooperation of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Institute of Medicine began in 2008 as an attempt to respond to necessity of the nursing profession transformation. The RWJF and the IOM started a 2-year-long Initiative on the Future of Nursing (Committee on the RWJF Initiative, 2011). Its major goal was to address the challenges of the health care system reformation and satisfaction of health needs of the citizens.
The acting force of the initiative, its committee, was supposed to provide a report on the results of cooperation. The report “Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health” included recommendations developed by the committee concerning the future of nursing that was supposed to be action-oriented. It also regarded the “changes in public and institutional policies” that were necessary on local, state, and national levels (Committee on the RWJF Initiative, 2011, p. 2).
As a part of its work, the committee developed four key messages that became the basis for further recommendations and their discussion. Thus, these messages were about the necessity of proper education and training, the achievement of higher levels of education, the importance of partnership with other health professionals, and the need for better information management for efficient planning.
Finally, the committee formulated eight recommendations aimed at the organizations of different levels. For example, recommendation 1 concerning the removal of scope-of-practice barriers had specific implications for the Congress, state legislators, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Office of Personnel Management, and the Federal Trade Commission and the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (Committee on the RWJF Initiative, 2011). All policy makers in the system of health care were supposed to unite and transform the organization of health care to provide care of high quality.
Significance of the IOM “Future of Nursing” Report
The “Future of Nursing” report is important to different spheres of nursing including nursing practice, nursing education and nursing workforce development. In fact, the report provided guidelines for all stakeholders to drive the change in health care. It became a tool to respond to healthcare reform that was a vital necessity (Ellerbe & Regen, 2012). Since the significance of reaching positive patient outcomes and increased customer satisfaction are the primary goals of health care, the need for change was obvious.
The improvement of the adaptive opportunities of health care organizations in conditions of changing legislation and regulatory requirements is necessary to preserve competitiveness, provide the quality improvement, and meet customer expectations.
American Nursing Association developed the set of activities that reflect the IOM recommendations provided in the report (“ANA, CMA and OA activities reflected in the IOM recommendations,” 2011). ANA admitted that admitted that the key messages and recommendations in the report are important because they empower the advancement of nursing profession and patient-centered care in the process of health care system reform. Moreover, the application of the “Future of Nursing” report recommendations in the real health care setting proved their significance (Ellerbe & Regen, 2012). More attention to the application of evidence-based nursing in practice and focus on the professional development resulted in the improved patient outcomes and increases satisfaction.
The Role of State-Based Action Coalitions: Florida
The state-based action coalitions have potential to advance goals of the Future of Nursing. Thus, Florida Center for Nursing provides initiatives focused on workforce. It correlates with one of the key messages of the Future of Nursing Report that stresses the significance of efficient workforce planning and policy making that demand proficient collection of data. Thus, one of the initiatives of the Center is to administer the data of survey on nursing licensure and workforce to assess the changes and provide increase in nurse supply (Florida Center for Nursing, 2017).
Moreover, the Center studies nurse demand in different facilities that allows appropriate distribution of the workforce. However, there is a barrier in advancement of professional nurse workforce connected with nursing education in Florida. The state reports inform that about 50% of talented applicants are not enrolled due to a set of economic and social issues (Florida Center for Nursing, 2017). Thus, the Center advocates nurse education. It reviews tendencies in capacity of Florida nurse education. This intervention is expected to increase the enrollment of Master-level students and thus approach one of the goals of the Future of Nursing Report.
Conclusions
On the whole, the report on the initiative “Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health” became a document that determined the direction of nursing development in the following years. It outlined the major issues that demanded particular attention on different levels. It had some crucial goals such as to address the challenges of the health care system reformation and satisfaction of health needs of the citizens and provision of recommendations for real actions to support the reform. Its statements became a basis for the action plans of nursing organizations and associations as well as an issue for further research. Moreover, it influenced the initiatives organized by the state-based action coalitions which altered their activities to advance goals of the Future of Nursing report.
References
ANA, CMA and OA activities reflected in the IOM recommendations. (2011). Web.
Committee on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing, at the Institute of Medicine. (2011). The future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health. Web.
Ellerbe, S., & Regen, D. (2012). Responding to health care reform by addressing the Institute of Medicine Report on the Future of Nursing. JONA’S Healthcare Law, Ethics, And Regulation, 14(4), 124-128. Web.
Florida Center for Nursing. (2017). Statewide data. Web.