Topics

• American Nurses Association
• The Carnegie Reports
• The IOM
• BSN in Ten
• References

NURS 410 - Health Care Delivery Systems & Informatics

Module 3: Major Reports Influencing the Healthcare Delivery System

The IOM

The IOM held a meeting, initiated by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, in 2010, to examine the role of nursing and nursing education in leading change in our health care delivery system. The landmark report published in 2011 by the IOM, serves as a framework for changes in the nursing profession and the health care delivery system. These nurse-led solutions are directed to individual policy-makers, national state and local government leaders, payers, health care researchers, executives and professionals—including nurses and others—as well as to larger groups such as licensing bodies, education institutions, and philanthropic and advocacy organizations, especially those advocating for consumers (IOM, 2011). The 2011 Institute of Medicine (IOM) Report on the Future of Nursing centered on several key points and associated recommendations to ensure that nurses practice to the full potential of their education and to enable nurses to achieve higher levels of education and training through improved education systems. The IOM Report recommended to increase the number of baccalaureate-prepared nurses in the workforce to 80% and doubling the population of nurses with doctorates. This expert panel of researchers, educators, and healthcare consultants directly responded to demands of the changing health care system to meet needs of patients and that nurses must achieve higher levels of education to do so.

In the IOM Report, a total of 8 recommendations were suggested requiring nurses and nurse educations to take immediate actions. Of the 8 actions, 4 are critical:

1. Nurses should practice to the full extent of their education and training;
2. Nurses should achieve higher levels of education and training through an improved education system that promotes seamless academic progression;
3. Nurses should be full partners, with physicians and other health professionals, in redesigning health care in the U.S. and,
4. Effective workforce planning and policy-making require better data collection and information infrastructure.

In reflecting on both the educational and practice environment changes, as covered in both the Carnegie and IOM reports, Tanner (2010) further discusses and describes how regulatory, political, and healthcare entities need to interact to positively impact nursing practice and patient care. She suggests that regulatory influences on nursing education must consider 3 inter-related entities: 1) communication, 2) law/rules, and 3) process. Moreover, Tanner (2010) explains “as health care continues to shift from hospitals to community based settings, as the population ages and care management in the community becomes more complex, and as new health care needs emerge, a new kind of nurse will be needed. Educational programs must be redesigned to better prepare this nurse” (p. 347).