The Institute of Medicine’s 2010 report on The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health acknowledges the changing healthcare sector in the US and describes future vision of healthcare and the role of nurses to fulfill that vision. The United States always strives to provide affordable and quality healthcare to the entire population of the country. In order to achieve this goal an overall restructuring of the healthcare system was necessitated. Nurses are considered to be the central part of the healthcare system to provide high quality and safe patient care. Nursing in the US is the single largest segment of the healthcare workforce with almost 3 million nurses working in different areas across the county. The changing
As a result, nurses need to earn higher levels of education and training to react positively to the changed scenarios. Continued education should be a norm for nurses as many changes and advancements in the healthcare sector take place. Nowadays there is an increased dependency on technology in the healthcare setting, especially in documentation and decision making. Information technology is widely used in medical billing and payments. Diagnostic and monitoring machines have proven inevitable in the treatment of many diseases. There is an increased demand from nurses to pursue higher education, especially those nurses who entered the profession through the apprentice programs in hospitals or the Associate Degree. As new nurses enter in to the profession, in the changed scenario a Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing will become the minimum qualification to provide advanced and safe care to patients. Many of the universities, including Grand Canyon University, offer courses for nurses to pursue higher education such as RN to BSN and MSN programs to improve their knowledge and skills, which is essential in the transformed healthcare system. The IOM report can also act as a guideline for teaching hospitals and other educational institutions to find new ways to improve the education and training of nurses in such a manner that they will be able to face the challenges of modern