The Report and their Significance to Nursing Practice

Review of the Institute of Medicine’s 2010 Report
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Review of the Institute of Medicine’s 2010 Report
Four Critical Messages Outlined in the Report and their Significance to Nursing Practice
The 2010 Report by the Institute of Medicine titled “The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health” enhances the knowledge of nursing practitioners on building a system of health care that meets the requirements for affordable care, quality, and safe. The report communicated four important messages to nursing professionals. The first message is that nurses need to fully exercise their training and education in their practice. Insurance companies and states are encouraged to create policies and regulations that facilitate the dissemination of nurses' reconceptualized roles to fill the gap between access to care and coverage (Institute of Medicine, 2011). In this respect, more nurses will be expected to become informaticians, care coordinators, health coaches, and primary care providers.
In the second message, nurses are required to attain higher training and educational levels through an enhanced system of education that supports seamless academic progression. This message is essential for the nursing profession since it advocates for the development of an improved education system that seeks to enhance nurses' skills to deliver patient-centred, quality, and safe care in all settings (Institute of Medicine, 2011). The third message is for nurses to partner effectively with health professionals, including physicians to redesign the country’s health care system. The process of redesigning of health care through the partnership will help nurses improve their adaptive capacity in identifying problems, devising plans and executing them, as well as tracking improvement. The last message highlights the significance of improved information infrastructure and better data collection for the purpose of policymaking and effective workforce planning (Institute of Medicine, 2011).
Direct Influence of the Report on Nursing Education and Leadership
The report recommends the need for major changes for the nursing practice environments and the U.S health care system to institutionalize education of nurses. The report emphasizes the need to provide nursing education before and after the nurses obtain their licenses. The implementation of the report’s recommendations will see nursing education become a continued lifelong learning process. The report further suggests "the nursing profession must produce leaders throughout the health care system, from the bedside to the bedroom, who can serve as full partners with health professionals" (Institute of Medicine, 2011, n.p). The educational and leadership pathways will enable BSN-prepared nurses to explore a wide range of opportunities and competences in th...