Analysis of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Report: The Future of Nursing
Introduction
The 2010 Institute of Medicine, on October 5, 2010, released a report, Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health. The report analyzes pieces of evidence to support the development of a new vision in the nursing practice, which mainly focuses on education and various policies associated with the practice. The report was released with the primary aim of ensuring that the American population has enhanced access to quality, safe and affordable healthcare. It is not a report explicitly designed by nurses and for nurses, as it is designed for various healthcare stakeholders, including the policymakers, the government, the insurance companies, and the general public. All these stakeholders contribute to ensuring safe, quality, and affordable care or are directly affected by such healthcare qualities. It is also worth noting that most of the panel members who designed the report were not nurses.
The Primary Recommendations Posed by the Report
The report had several recommendations, all to transform the nursing practice and profession in three critical areas. These include; practice, leadership, and education. It also addressed the need to have reliable data concerning the healthcare workforce to enhance proper planning and changes crucial in the nursing practice and the overall health system (Fitzpatrick, 2018). Some of the primary recommendations are as briefly described below.
First Recommendation: Remove the Barriers to Scope-Of-Practice
This recommendation was developed to enable advanced practice registered nurses to practice to the full extent of their education and training (Fitzpatrick, 2018). This will enable the various nurses to achieve adequate training and attain sufficient knowledge, which will enable them to deliver care to their patients in a safe, qualified, and appropriate manner. Through this, there will be a significant reduction in medication errors, and patients will have better health outcomes.
Second Recommendation: Enhance Opportunities for Nurses to Lead and Spread Collaborative Improvement Reforms
This recommendation was designed to enable the various stakeholders in healthcare, such as the funders, the nursing associations, and the healthcare organizations, to expand multiple opportunities to enhance collaboration of the nurses with other healthcare professionals in developing and management improvement plans (Yoder-Wise, 2016). The various stakeholders were also advised to provide opportunities to enable the nurses to diffuse such successful practices. This recommendation encourages collaboration between the nurses and other stakeholders, which is crucial in transforming the entire healthcare system since population healthcare needs keep changing, making care delivery a complex process requiring the contribution of various care providers and stakeholders.
Third Recommendation: Implementation of Nursing Residency Programs
The recommendation requires the various bodies such as the federal governments, accrediting bodies, and the healthcare organizations to support the nurses after completing the pre-licensure studies to enhance their completion of a transition-to-practice program or the residency programs (Fitzpatrick, 2018). This will facilitate their abilities to advance their education, which is necessary for delivering more specialized care to the population.
Fourth Recommendation: Increase the Percentage of Nurses with Baccalaureate Degree To 80% by 2020
The percentage of the workforce who had the baccalaureate degree was still low and could not adequately address the growing health demands of the population. The recommendation emphasizes the need for various leaders in nursing schools to work together to increase the percentage of nurses with the baccalaureate degree from 50 to 80% by 2020, as this will enhance the diversity of the students, which is essential in creating a workforce able to meet the various demands of the population across their entire lifespans.
Fifth Recommendation: Doubling the Number of Nurse Having Doctorate Degree by 2020
This recommendation was primarily designed to create an adequate pool of qualified workforce that could serve various purposes in the nursing field (Yoder-Wise, 2016). With their increased number, some can act as researchers and others as mentors, clinical role models, and teachers to guide the students to ensure those graduating have adequate valuable knowledge in providing quality and safe care. Researchers in healthcare are also useful in developing evidence-based practices, which are critical for the proper management of the patients.
Sixth Recommendation: Ensure a Lifelong Learning for the Nurses
This recommendation was developed to ensure that nurses continuously learn best and safe practice me