Is it feasible for 80 percent of nurses to have bachelor’s degrees by 2020? Do nurse practitioners have the necessary education and experience to care for patients without physician oversight? How will the National Health Care Workforce Commission and the National Center for Workforce Analysis collect and analyze data to paint an actionable picture of the current healthcare workforce?
These are some of the headlining questions coming out of the Institute of Medicine’s report on the future of nursing, released earlier this week. Meanwhile, the American Nurses Association (ANA) and other prominent nursing organizations are applauding the report. Here’s a sampling of their statements:
“The IOM recommendations, along with the adoption of the Affordable Care Act, serve to create a unique opportunity to restructure our current healthcare system into one which emphasizes collaboration and commitment to quality,” said ANA President Karen Daley, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN.
Pamela Rudisill, RN, president of the American Hospital Association’s American Organization of Nurse Executives subsidiary, added, “This seminal report presents a watershed moment for the nursing profession as we work to reform healthcare. It presents challenges but great opportunities to recreate nursing in America by removing barriers to scope of practice, expanding collaborative efforts such as AONE’s Transforming Care at the Bedside, and promoting a better-educated workforce and the value of nursing through evidence-based research and enhanced data-collection efforts.”
What are your thoughts on the future of nursing? Do you have confidence in the recommendations laid out in this report? What would you add to it?