Implementation of the IOM Future of Nursing Report

Implementation of the IOM Future of Nursing Report

Introduction

In United States, more than 3 million workers have been enrolled in the nursing profession. It is the largest health care workforce. Being able to work on the front lines with those suffering from diseases, nurses can play a significant role in helping the authorities in realizing the objectives and goals set forth by Affordable Care Act 2010 (Institute of Medicine, 2010).The Affordable Care Act is a recent legislation in the area of health care that is aimed at complete overhaul of the health care sector since 1965 when two major legislative events Medicare and Medicaid were launched. (Newhouse, 2011).

Research in the health care sector, shows that there are number of barriers that prevent nurses from dealing effectively and efficiently with increasingly complex and continuously changing health care settings, as a direct result of an evolving health care system. There is a need to overcome these barriers in order to ensure that nurses are well placed and are in a position to lead the movement of change for the purpose of achieving superior quality in health care practice.

(RWJF) Robert Johnson Foundation in collaboration with the Institute of Medicine (IOM) introduced a two year program that was aimed on looking after the assessment, evaluation and transformation of modern practices in the profession of nursing. IOM has constituted the Committee on the RWJF Initiative on the Future of Nursing and tasked with producing a report that would recommend an effective and result oriented strategy in order to secure a better future for nursing.

Discussion

The report titled The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health released by IOM in partnership with RWJF in October 2010. This report is the result of the endless efforts put in by 18 experts in the field of nursing, business, health policy, workforce policy, economics, medicine, consumer issues and health plan administration. The extensive research behind the formulation of the report incorporated extensive review of the relevant literature and research that was previously undertaken mainly in the area of nursing and medicine (Fights, 2012).

At the historic moment of launching of the initiative, Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president of RWJF stated that nursing is a profession that forms the foundation patient care and overall healthcare system. It is, therefore, one of the most significant segments of the health care system that have the capability to transform the way in which health care services are offered to the patients so that quality health care services can be availed by the patients at an affordable cost.

The introduction of this health care initiative has helped in bringing great improvement and development in the overall health care system of the nation. It has invited the policymakers and national leaders to proactively respond to the recommendations that were proposed in this report. By bringing change in the policies our health care system would be able to properly make and implement policies at national, local and state ...