Future of Nursing: State-Based Action Coalitions

The Future of Nursing
Student’s Name
Institution
The Future of Nursing
Work of RWJF Committee Initiative
The report “The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health” was released in 2010 by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). It provided a series of recommendations relating to nurses’ role in the new healthcare environment (Altman, Butler, & Shern, 2016). It is after the release that Robert Wood Johnson (RWJF) introduced the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action. The aim of the campaign was to implement the recommendations of the report.
According to Altman, Butler, and Shern (2016), the report was launched at a favorable moment in the US healthcare given that there was a growing need for major changes in the care delivery system. RWJF and IOM established an Initiative on the Future of Nursing whose end result was the report. RWJF approached IOM in 2008 and proposed a partnership that would assess and respond to challenges in the nursing profession. As informed by Altman, Butler, and Shern (2016), the committee was made up of 18 members and was led by Donna Shalala. She is the former US secretary of Health and Human Services. The committee was also made up of professionals and experts from different fields including nursing, education, education, public health, and research. The inclusion of individuals from different fields was instrumental as it helped in bringing in different perspectives.
According to the report, RWJF and IOM agreed that exceptional nursing care and leadership were necessary in order for high quality and accessible care to be realized. The working together of the two organizations sought to bring credibility and visibility to the initiative (Committee on the RWJF Initiative on the Future of Nursing; Institute of Medicine, 2010). The committee was tasked to examine the nursing workforce’s capacity to satisfy the demands of a restructured health care system (Altman, Butler, & Shern, 2016). The committee was also tasked with coming up with recommendations for changes at the local, state, and national levels.
According to the report, five meetings were held to collect information related to the topic at hand. In addition, three public forums on care in the community, acute care, and nursing education were held. It is evident that the committee took into account the input of the public. In addition, the inclusion of members outside the nursing profession in the committee was instrumental in making the report more credible and conclusive.
Importance of IOM Future of Nursing Report
The report is significantly important to nursing education, nursing practice, and nursing workforce development. The key messages upon which the report is centered show how important it is important in the above-mentioned three fronts. The first two key messages presented in the report focus on education and training. As such, it is evident that nursing education was a major focus of the committee. The first key message from the report proposes that education and training received by nurses should be practiced to the full extent. It is mentioned that regulatory, historical, and policy barriers have limited the ability of nurses to exercise fully the practices which trainin...