Report on the Research: The Future of Nursing and Medicine (Research Paper Sample)

The Future of Medicine
Name:
Institution:
The Future of Nursing
Introduction
Nurses play a fundamental role in the development and advancement of health care, especially in such a time as now, when major changes are taking place in health care system in America. It calls for major involvement of the stakeholders of the sector including nurses. Collaborations have been carried out and action coalition to make nursing better. Institute of Medicine (IOM) has done immense work by collaborating with states as well as other foundations such as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) (IOM & RWJF, 2011). This led to the release of the report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health that resulted with eight recommendations and four messages to make nursing better (RWJF) (IOM & RWJF, 2011). It is therefore critical to discuss the report by RWJF and the IOM initiative and review the progress of the action for campaign in relation to New Jersey.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation & IOM Report
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) approached the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in the year 2008 proposing for a partnership that would assess the nursing profession in America and there after respond to the transformation need (IOM & RWJF, 2011). RWJF and IOM realized that nursing profession was undergoing numerous challenges in delivering the promise of a changed health care system thus becoming difficult to meet the nation’s health needs (Bakewell-Sachs, Mertz, Egreczky, & Ladden, 2011). Therefore, they established a 2-year initiative that would give an intense report on the future of nursing. Further it was to indicate workable recommendations and necessary changes to the nursing profession both in public and institutional and the policies were to be effective at all levels including local, state and national levels. After the report had been released the committee had to host a national conference in the year 2010 with the intention of discussing how the recommendations would be translated into reality and it would also serve as the focal phase of implementation and RWJF would be in charge (IOM & RWJF, 2011).
It is worth noting that this report is designed to cause intensive change in the health care system and therefore it should be understood by all the stake holders in the industry including the licensing bodies, educational centers, advocacy organizations, researchers, local government leaders, individual policy makers, and nurses among others (Bakewell-Sachs, Mertz, Egreczky, & Ladden, 2011).
As a result of this examination by the committee the following main messages were realized alongside eight recommendations in relation to education, practice and development of the nursing profession (Bakewell-Sachs, Mertz, Egreczky, & Ladden, 2011). The report suggested that all the nurses in all levels should be allowed to practice their profession to the full extent as per their education and training. Secondly, nurses should be able to pursue higher education and training via improved education system promoting seamless academic progression. Thirdly, nurses should fully partner with the major players in the system such as physicians and other health care professionals, in the process of designing and transforming the health care system in the United States. Finally, the report suggested that information infrastructure as well as data collection would require an effective workforce that would come hand in hand with planning and policy making (IOM & RWJF, 2011).
Significance of the IOM Report
For this reason the IOM report would remain important to the future of nursing in a number of ways. It encourages nurses to pursue higher levels of education. It also encourages the stake holders related to health care system in America to support, appreciate and acknowledge the efforts of the nurses in their endeavors (Bakewell-Sachs, Mertz, Egreczky, & Ladden, 2011). The report is also significant to nursing in that it encourages and advocates for nurses to be allowed to practice their profession fully as per their level of education and training. Before, they have been limited to only a certain level irrespective of their level of education and training. This report now would see nurses go as far as their training. Therefore, they would not shy from pursuing further education and using it to the benefit of the community.
The report also stands significant in that nurses are allowed to be full partners in the health issues (McCallion, 2014). They would now be involved in designing and transforming the health system at all levels from local to national. Earlier, such decisions were left for the prominent professionals and physicians. Nurses have been left in negligence in their own field. This has left them with little space to transform the nursing system from leadership to data collection and information infrastructure. Nurses have a major role to play in the field of medicine. Neglecting them would be such a big mistake while as engaging them fully is a milestone.
Action coalitions
Action coalitions act as the force pushing the campaign at the state and local levels creating a strong base of diverse stakeholders working together to transform the health care system through the nursing wing. The sole purpose of this campaign is to provide a guide for the implementation of the recommendations from the IOM report. This coalition will play a major role in bringing all the stakeholders together such as insurers, businesses, physicians, nurses, foundations, academia, consumers, and health systems among others.
There have been several action coalitions in New Jersey that have taken the lead in the implementation of the recommendations successfully. Two of them are reviewed below. New Jersey’s long-term care residency program is one of the action coalitions in the state. This is a program rolled out to ensure that as many resident registered nurses (RNs) are enrolled in the residency ...