IOM Report About Nursing S Future

IOM Nursing Report

The author of this report has been asked to offer an analysis and summary of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) nursing report. In reading and analyzing that report, there will be a few questions answered by the author of this report. The first answer will be the impact of the IOM report on nursing education. The second answer will be the impact of the IOM report on nursing practice and how one would change one's practice to meet the goals of the IOM report with a particular focus on primary care. The third and final answer will be the impact of the report on the nurse's role as a leader. Along the way, a minimum of three exterior sources will be used to synthesize and supplement the answers provided.

Analysis

When it comes to the IOM report's impact on nursing education, the Transforming Practice section makes it clear that nurses should be practicing to the full extent of their education. In other words, as nurses learn more and do more, they should always be expanding their overall body of work and what they do to match what they have learned. This by itself is an impact on nursing care, the first question. However, there are implications explained immediately after the note about working within the confines of one's education in that the IOM report explains that nurses, APRN's in particular, are integral in expanding access to primary care and the quality of care received from the same. The overall role of a nurse is currently undergoing major changes and this necessitates changing the nursing education faculties and facilities to match the new demands and requirements of the nursing role. In short, the nursing education field and the nurses practicing in primary care (as well as other areas) are bouncing off each other and forcing each other to improve and grow. There are regulatory barriers at times when it comes to all of this as nurses are restricted or banned when it comes to certain activities, procedures and so forth. Further, there are some professional organizations that are pushing back on the expanding role of nursing. However, the overall paradigm shift is clearly in favor of expanding the role of a nurse rather than contracting it or leaving it as is. The outdated policies or some insurance companies do not help (NAP, 2011).

Beyond the mentioned education items above, not only should nurses being working to the full extent of their training, the overall scope of what nurses are learning should expand as well according to the IOM. It all starts with the depth and breadth of undergraduate education and it grows from there. As far as leadership, section five of the IOM report focuses specifically on that. The third "key message" of the report is that nurses should be "full partners" when it comes to their work with physicians and other healthcare professionals and that this will serve as a catalyst for change within the United States healthcare system. The IOM report notes that there is a new style of leadership emerging in the healthcare sphere that involves making the nurses, physicians and patients all inter-dependent partners and the nurses/physicians need to be on more of an equal plane for that paradigm to work properly. The IOM further asserts that there needs to be leadership in a collaborative environment and that leadership should be omnipresent at every level (NAP, 2011).