Professional Development of Nursing Professionals
Introduction
The nursing profession is the backbone of the healthcare system because nurses have the role of providing care to patients; this significantly impacts the patient’s health outcomes. The IOM report provides recommendations supporting the changes in the nursing profession and care delivery in the healthcare system. This essay will thus discuss the impact of the IOM report on nursing practice.
The first message from the IOM report suggests that nurses should practice to the full scope as per their training and education (Ferrell et al., 2013). This message supports the removal of restrictions that limit nurses such as NP to practice to the full extent. Implementing this recommendation will increase access to health care because APRNs will practice to the full capacity. Secondly, the report emphasizes the need for nurses to further their education and training through a better education system. A continuous academic advancement for the nursing staff will ensure that nurses provide quality, safe, and patient-centered care. An improved education system will offer nurses the required mechanisms to assess and improve care standards as well as the safety and quality of care. Moreover, nurses will be able to adapt and respond to changes in health, and particularly the ever-evolving technology changes. Thirdly, the IOM report points out the importance of nurses collaborating with other interprofessional in the healthcare system to redesign the healthcare system (Ferrell et al., 2013). This implies that nurses need to take a leadership role and be actively involved in the transformation of the healthcare system. The last message is that the data on the healthcare workers need to be improved to ensure that there is adequate healthcare workforce to meet the health needs of Americans (Palatnik, 2016).
The IOM report focuses on attaining higher educational levels and improving practice through a well-developed educational system. The report will thus impact the educational standards in the nursing profession where the number of nurses with a BSN degree is likely to increase. Moreover, nurses will further their education to attain a Master of Science in Nursing and Doctorate of nursing practice to improve the standards of the nursing profession. During further training and education, nurses will develop the necessary leadership skills to become leaders in healthcare organizations and acquire the leadership skills to steer changes within the healthcare system (Palatnik, 2016).
There are various opportunities and benefits for BSN-prepared nurses. BSN-prepared nurses have numerous job opportunities and options that include care provision as a registered nurse and leadership roles such as clinical nurse manager, chief nursing officer, or nurse head. Moreover, as a BSN-prepared nurse, one can work in the labor and delivery unit and work as a nurse anesthetist or a patient educator (Anbari, 2015). This indicates that when nurses enroll for a nursing degree, they have more opportunities, especially in leadership scope when compared to the LPN nurses. Professional Development of Nursing Professionals Essay
To effectively meet the needs of the geriatric and increasingly diverse population, it is vital for the nurse’s role and education to evolve. The demographic shift has a significant effect in the healthcare industry, and particularly for nurses. The older adults and diverse populations have specific health needs and thus nurses need the essential skills and competency to meet these needs to facilitate optimal patient outcomes (Ma et al., 2018). Attaining higher educational levels in nursing will equip nurses with the expertise and knowledge to adjust to the challenges and changes of healthcare. Nurses who are highly educated and specialty training will have the ability to prepare for and meet the diverse needs of patient populations (Ma et al., 2018). Moreover, higher education and professional development equip nurses with the leadership and critical thinking skills necessary to handle challenges present when working with diverse and geriatric populations.
New evolving roles require the nursing professionals to be skillful and proficient at recognizing how community characteristics impact populations and patients; understand the complex health needs of the geriatric population, develop and implement care coordination initiatives; collaborate effectively with other interprofessional and leverage data and technology to facilitate better care provision (Salmond & Echevarria, 2017). Nurses thus need to participan
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