IOM Future of Nursing Report: Practice, Education & Workforce
This paper examines the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Institute of Medicine collaborative report, "Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health" (2010), tracing its origins and key findings. It discusses the report's significance for nursing practice, education, and workforce development in the context of an aging population and rising chronic disease burdens. The paper evaluates the role of state-based action coalitions in advancing the Campaign for Action at local and state levels, summarizes two key initiatives undertaken by a state action coalition, and identifies persistent barriers to advancement — particularly a lack of public awareness — along with strategies for overcoming them through public education campaigns and legislative advocacy.
- Introduction: Overview of paper scope and nursing shortage context
- Background of the IOM Future of Nursing Report: RWJF-IOM collaboration origins and key findings
- Importance for Nursing Practice, Education, and Workforce Development: Aging population, chronic disease, and nursing competency needs
- Role of State-Based Action Coalitions: State coalitions as local drivers of nursing reform
- State Action Coalition Initiatives and Barriers to Advancement: Town halls, lessons learned, and public awareness barriers
- Conclusion: IOM report legacy and state-level implementation outcomes
✍️ How to write this paper — guide, tools & examples ▾
What makes this paper effective
- Clearly maps the paper's structure upfront, guiding the reader through each major topic in a logical sequence.
- Grounds its analysis in a specific, authoritative source — the 2010 IOM report — lending credibility to its claims about nursing education and workforce reform.
- Connects broad national policy recommendations to concrete, state-level implementation examples, demonstrating awareness of how policy translates into practice.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates effective policy analysis by moving from macro-level findings (the IOM report's national recommendations) down to meso- and micro-level application (state action coalitions and specific local initiatives). This top-down analytical structure is a hallmark of health policy writing and shows the student's ability to synthesize research and apply it across multiple levels of the healthcare system.
Structure breakdown
The paper follows a clear expository structure: an introduction previewing all major sections, a background section on the RWJF–IOM collaboration, a policy-significance section covering practice, education, and workforce, a section on state-based coalitions, a combined section summarizing initiatives and barriers, and a brief conclusion synthesizing key findings. Each section addresses a discrete analytical question, making the argument easy to follow.
Introduction
In an era of widespread nursing shortages, identifying opportunities to improve nursing practice, nursing education, and nursing workforce development has assumed new importance and relevance. This paper provides a discussion concerning the work of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Committee Initiative on the Future of Nursing and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) research that led to the IOM report, Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health. A discussion of the importance of the IOM "Future of Nursing" report as it relates to nursing practice, nursing education, and nursing workforce development is followed by an evaluation of the role of state-based action coalitions and how they advance the goals of the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action. In addition, a summary of two initiatives spearheaded by a state action coalition and an analysis of how those initiatives advance the nursing profession is followed by an examination of the barriers to advancement that currently exist and the ways in which those barriers can be overcome. Finally, a summary of the research and important findings concerning these issues is provided in the conclusion.
References
Action coalitions. (2015). Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action. Retrieved from
Dickow, M. (2015). Action coalition shares secrets of success. Campaign for Action. Retrieved from http://campaignforaction.org.
McNeal, G. J. (2012, Winter). The IOM report on the future of nursing: One year later. ABNF Journal, 23(1), 3.
The future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health. (2010, October 5). Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. Retrieved from
Create your account
Always verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.