The 2010 IOM Report on Nursing's Future and Its Impact Paper Example

In the contemporary century, the challenges the United States is facing in the field of nursing has taken a dramatic shift. Aiken (2011) emphasizes that the diversity in the population of the country in respect to race and ethnicity, social norms and economic issues has made it obligatory to bring changes in the education and training of nurses. The United States healthcare system was built to provide for the needs patients with acute ailments and injuries. It has been proven that other severe diseases like mental health, cancer, and cardiovascular illnesses are submerged in medical history. Such revelations are the reason for the 2010 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report which comprehensively examined the nurse's responsibilities and their education in regards to the ever-changing field of medicine. The impact of the IOM report is that it changed the primary care practice, increased nurse's education, and made nurses leaders.

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The influence of the 2010 IOM report on the primary care practice is that it presents healthcare professionals with many opportunities that enabled them to create a system that is more patient-centered. In its definition of primary care, the IOM report takes much importance on the provision of accessible health care services by practitioners who can address a majority of personal health needs in partnership with patients (Naylor & Kurtzman, 2010). With the IOM introduction of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 alongside the report, the focus of health care shifted away from acute care to primary care. The Affordable Care Act means that more people will be able to access healthcare and thus a need to come up with a larger primary care workforce. Patients who never received treatment based on the high cost of medication or coverage can these days choose to see their primary health providers rather than waiting until hospitalization. This is why the 2010 IOM report is considered a significant role player in the development of primary care.

The other impact of the 2010 IOM report is that it made nurses take more active roles in medicine by increasing their education. The report identifies a few key points which Young, Landstrom, Rosenberger, Guidroz, and Albu (2015) mentions that the second one stresses on the need for nurses to achieve higher levels of training through an education system that can promote a unified academic advancement. It is clear that the roles and responsibilities of nurses are continuously growing with the practitioners these days having to diagnose diseases, recommend treatment, and prescribe drugs. This is the reason as to why nurses are required at entry level to have the qualification of a bachelor/bachelorette degree rather than an associate degree. This is appropriate considering the increased patient mortality in hospitals with few associate degree nurses. To achieve the requirements of nursing qualification at entry level, more nurses have chosen to increase their education.

Thirdly, the IOM report has made nurses contribute to medical research by giving them more power in the hospital setting by making them leaders. The provisions in the IOM report were that for a transformation to be realized in the healthcare system then strong leadership on nurses is essential (Institute of Medicine, 2010). Traditionally, nurses never thought nor intended to become leaders in the field of medicine as such positions are left to physicians. Nonetheless, since the recognition that it is imperative for nurses to step up and be able to function as full partners with other health care professionals, they have taken the challenge and become leaders. All nurses irrespective of their academic qualifications should have strong leadership skills to contribute to the understanding of care and patient's safety. The research on nursing practice should be continuous in order to identify and come up with evidence-based recommendations that can help in the improvement of care. Such improvements must be tested for incorporation in the healthcare through policy changes in the field of medicine. Nursing leaders are on top of these studies hence they must translate the discoveries to the practical scenario and introduce such findings in the training of nurses and practice policy. The 2010 IOM report allowing for the development of robust, intelligent and experienced nurses while making them leaders positively impact the healthcare industry as seen today.

Conclusion

In conclusion, taking the beforehand discussion into consideration, the 2010 IOM report has created positive impacts on the healthcare industry by changing the practice of primary care, increasing nursing education and giving nurses leadership roles. Nurses are at the forefront of bringing improvements in healthcare, and they are the opening contacts in the implementation of any initiative relative to the quality and sustainability of healthcare. This is why it is correct to mention that the IOM report of 2010 played a crucial role in the transformation of the United States from a model that was far outdated to one that is accommodative and effective. As a final remark, with the active involvement of nurses in the healthcare system, there is no doubt that the nation will see more improvements in the quality of care.

References

Aiken, L. H. (2011). Nurses for the future. New England Journal of Medicine,364(3), 196-198.

Institute of Medicine. (2010). The future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health . Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

Naylor, M. D., & Kurtzman, E. T. (2010). The Role Of Nurse Practitioners In Reinventing Primary Care. Health Affairs, 29(5), 893-899.

Young, J., Landstrom, G., Rosenberger, S., Guidroz, A. M., & Albu, A. (2015). Leading Nursing Into the Future: Development of a Strategic Nursing Platform on a System Level. Nursing administration quarterly, 39(3), 239-246.