The 2010 IOM Report on Future Nursing

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) strives to provide critical information about health care to both the government and the private sector in an attempt to raise their capacity to improve service delivery in the healthcare area. Usually, most of this information happens to be backed by the evidence collected in the course of the many research studies that this organization carries out in the healthcare sector. Precisely, this information makes it possible to alter both the law and policies guiding service delivery in this area in a bid to raise both the living standards and the care offered to the patients. In this paper, the impact of the 2010 IOM report on the future of nursing will be given an in-depth analysis. Notably, this analysis will include the impact of this report on nursing education, nursing practice, and on the role of a nurse as a leader.

Impact on the Nursing Education

The IOM report (2010) outlines the need to raise both the training and the educational levels at the nurse’s disposal. More precisely, this need happens to be one of the recommendations that are contained in the report. The report observes that nursing practice occupies the largest and most visible segment of the healthcare sector. As such, the nursing profession is bound to play a critical role in any development that is both contemplated and made in the medical sector. However, the report observes that training and education barriers continue to limit the ability of the nurses to respond to various developments that are contemplated and indeed made in this sector. In response to this, the report calls for the redesigning and the improvement of the education system relative to the nursing profession to ensure a seamless academic progression. In addition, it advocates for the furtherance of education levels. Notably, it recommends for the adoption of the BSN, MSN, and the doctorate degrees in nursing.

Impact on the Nursing Practice

Ideally, the healthcare field is faced with the need to adopt new ways that are innovative enough to increase the quality of the primary care offered as opposed to specialty care only, substantially. Indeed, the IOM report on future nursing (2010) reflects upon this need in its recommendations. Mainly, it denotes that there is indeed a shift that dictates the need for more community care. In response to this, this report sees the need not only to increase the number of nurses that are churned out of learning and training institutions to cater for the medical needs of the populace every year but also to improve the quality of education that is provided to these trainees. Such a move is aimed at enhancing the capacity of the new practitioners to give quality primary care to patients.

Primarily, the ability of nurses to operate to their full potential is limited by some inconsistencies that exist from state to state. These inconsistencies are often reflected in the laws, policies, culture, and regulations that dictate how the nurses operate. The IOM report on future nursing (2010), thus, attempts to correct these inconsistencies making it have a significant impact on nursing practice in the process. Essentially, the report provides that these constraints ought to be lifted to make it possible for the nurses to get the opportunities they require to be at their disposal for them to facilitate progressive change in the medical sector (Chard, 2013). This may be translated to mean that the nurses will get an opportunity to practice freely to their fullest extent.

To meet the goal line objectives of the IOM report in my practice, I would seek to further my studies in nursing. The report provides an opportunity for nurses to enroll in BSN, MSN, and doctorate degrees which were not the case previously. Thus, I would ensure that my training does not stop at an associate’s degree as it would have been the case already.

Impact on the Role of the Nurse as a Leader

Nurses need to have strong leadership skills for them to be in a position to guide the transformation of the health care system for the better. As such, the IOM report aims at injecting some of these leadership skills in the nurses. Foremost, the report recognizes the existence of the position of a nurse leader. It goes further to throw some responsibilities to these nurse leaders. More precisely, it states that the nurse leaders ought to translate the findings of new research studies to the relevant practice environment (Committee et al., 2016).

Most importantly, this report provides the nurses with a voice in critical decision-making fora relative to the healthcare sector. It provides that nurse leaders ought to be involved in boards and committees that make vital decisions in the medical sector as the representatives of the nursing profession. These leaders, therefore, must be in a position to collaborate with other professionals, like the physicians, who operate in the health care sector to address various issues that may arise in the area.