Future of Nursing Action-Oriented Blueprint the Future

Future of Nursing

ACTION-ORIENTED BLUEPRINT

The Future of Nursing Report

"Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health"

The enactment of the Affordable Car Act of 2010 created the opportunity to transform the healthcare system in providing the envisioned higher-quality, more affordable and accessible care for the population (RWJF, 2011). This is the ideal shared by more than 3 million already-committed nurse practitioners all over the country. But there exist barriers to the realization of this ideal. They stand on the way to the effective and rapid delivery of health care and must be overcome. Two years earlier, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation or RWJF and the Institute of Medicine began a joint assessment on the nursing profession. This resulted in a report, which contained recommendations to serve as blueprint for the future of nursing and realize a common ideal (RWJF).

The importance of this Report lies in the 4 key messages and 8 recommendations addressed to individual policy makers, national, State, and local government leaders, tax payers, health care researchers, executives and professionals, and all concerned groups (RWJF, 2011). As a unified force, these groups can transform the health care system into the common ideal of a flawless, affordable, quality care that will truly be accessible to all. It will be the envisioned patient-centered and evidence-based, which will achieve improved health outcomes. The key messages are for nurses to practice their education and training to the full extent; achieve higher levels of education through improved education; become full partners with other health professionals; and for an effective workforce planning and policymaking through better data collection and an improved information infrastructure. The recommendations cut across the health needs of the diverse populations across the lifespan and the actions of the nursing workforce (RWJF).

Campaign for Action

The intent of this Campaign is to serve as guide for the implementation of the recommendations set forth in "The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health" joint report between the Institute of Medicine and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF, 2011). This Campaign is coordinated through the Center to Champion Nursing in America or CCNA, which is an initiative of the AARP Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation or RWJF. It consists of 51 state action coalitions and health care providers, consumer advocates, policy makers, and leaders in business, academia and philanthropy (RWJF).

This Campaign was launched shortly after the join report was made public (RWJF, 2011). It is led by an 18-member committee headed by former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna E. Shalala. It emphasizes the future of the nursing profession as critical to the remake of a truly responsive healthcare system. It is echoed in the ardent call of the Report made to the nation's leaders and other stakeholders to heed and act on the recommendations on the four key areas. Nurses and their professional organizations have long been devoted and committed to the upgrading and strengthening of their profession. Their collective achievements provided much springboard and background for the foundation, the 4 key messages and the eight recommendations (RWJF).

State-Based Action Coalitions

These serve as the driving force of the "Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action (RWJF, 2011)." Their rationale is to produce long-term sustainable change in the local, State or regional levels. They are made up of different groups of stakeholders from different sectors. These coalitions endeavor to infuse the best practices, discover and establish research needs, keep track of lessons learned, and identify models that can be replicated. They develop and implement regional goals and campaigns within the purview and recommendations of the joint report (RWJF).

Their mission is to form and mobilize these multi-sector stakeholders; educate policymakers and other decision-makers; reach out and seek funding from philanthropists and other funders for the coalition; seek out visibility through the media; fulfill coalition efforts; and work to advance these recommendations. These coalitions are providedwith technical assistance by the RWJF through a grant to the AARP Foundation. To insure long-term functioning, technical assistance may come from sources, such as grant writers, sustainability planning or facilitation, in-kind contributors or donors, and from collaborations and coordinated work with existing RWJF nursing grant programs (RWJF).

Indiana State Coalition

Transforming Healthcare is this coalition's battle cry and the direction it has taken in moving towards fulfilling the initiatives set forth in the joint report (ICN, 2013). It receives support through the Center to Champion Nursing in America. This Center aims at strengthening the nation's educational paths for future nurses; increase their number and diversity of those who will enter and remain in the profession; eliminate the barriers that limit their ability to adequately provide needed health care; and enable them to assert influence in decision-making in health care, business, policy and community (ICN).

Nursing Practice Initiative

This initiative aims at creating a statewide nursing practice environment in order to transform Indiana into a model and attractive state for the practice (ICN, 2013). It forced a partnership with the Indiana Organization of Nurse Executives and other Indiana nursing organizations in developing strategies through the Nursing Practice Action Committee of the Indiana Action Coalition: Transforming Healthcare initiative in addressing all the needs of nurses in the State in all their practice environments (ICN).