Future of Nursing based on IOM
Marisol Camacho
Grand Canyon University -NRS-430
July 27, 2013

Future of Nursing based on IOM
A recent development on the landscape of nursing is the IOM report "The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health," which was released in October 2010. Its Mission is to "serve as adviser to the nation to improve health." The report outlines major categories of change needed in nursing to meet the health care needs of the nation (Institute of Medicine, 2010). In this essay we will be discussing the impact of the IOM report on nursing practice, particularly in primary care, nursing education, the nurse’s role as a leader. There is certainly room for improvement when it comes to healthcare. This report gives advise to decision-making people in the healthcare setting.
How it impacts Nursing Practice
In the IOM, it states that nurses should be able practice to the full extent of their education and training. With new changes to health care occurring in the United States like the Affordable Care Act of 2010, there will be definitely room for providers to work together to provide a better healthcare system. Patient centered care is necessary to provide the best, safest patient care possible. Nurses play a vital role in patient care. They work with the patient on a one to one basis, more than the physicians. Nurses are the eyes and ears of the providers. With the many changes occurring in the health care system, today, nurses will definitely be affected. Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioners make up a huge number of providers offering primary care. The need for primary care has allowed NP (nurse practitioners) to become a significant number of caregivers in that field. There is no evidence that ARNP’s are less able, than doctors, to provide safe effective care. There are many Nurse Practioner’s that see patients on a daily basis and are as efficient as a resident provider. Advanced Nurse Practitioners can specialize in a certain area of nursing, like pediatrics, oncology, psychiatry, family care, etc. We as nurses will be encouraged to continue seeking higher education. Nurse residency programs would be in place to make sure ARNP’s are going to be able to practice without the need for a physician. Nurse scope of practice is something that will definitely be addressed. With nurses seeking higher education, should scope of practice be modified accordingly?
Nursing Education Nurses should be encouraged to achieve higher levels of education/training to promote positive patient outcomes. Positive patient outcomes are proven to increase due to higher number of BSN prepared nurses. One of the goals of the IOM report is to increase nurses with a BSN degree from 50 to 80 percent by 2020. There is evidence that show that nurses with BSN degree or higher does affect patient safety outcomes in a positive way. Nursing education should definitely be encouraged, but there are a lot of factors that can prevent a nurse from furthering education. Many magnet status hospital today require a BSN degree or higher. There isn’t much of a pay incentive between ADN and BSN nurses. Cost of education is off the roof. There are a lot of online accelerated RN-BSN programs that make it easy for a full time working nurse to complete online degree. There are many other MSN and doctoral degree programs. Many hospitals offer some form of tuition reimbursement. If the goal of increasing BSN nurses by 80% does become a reality, it will affect ADN and certificate nursing programs in positive and negative ways. As our population ages, the need for more ARNP’s will be also be in demand. For the safety of patients, facilities should encourage furthering education of their staff.
How it affect nurse’s role as a leader Nurses should work together with providers and other healthcare professionals to modify and come up with a better, safer healthcare system. In addition to all the changes proposed by the IOM