The report, “Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health”, has found wide usage in recent years as stakeholders in the health sector attempt to implement the recommendations that act as the action plan to guide nursing practice into the future. At its core, the report has succeeded in not only stimulating positive change in nursing and healthcare, but also in ensuring that nurses’ roles, responsibilities and education are aligned with present day challenges and the demands of healthcare reform (Fights, 2011). The present paper discusses the report with the view to identifying the future problems that face our healthcare system and explaining how the information contained in the report could be used to assist future nurse leaders to make decisions.
Important Elements Contained in the Report
A review of nursing scholarship on the “Future of Nursing” report shows that it is anchored on four key messages, namely (1) facilitating nurses to practice to their full extent of their education and training, (2) encouraging nurses to achieve higher levels of education and training through an enhanced education system that sponsors flawless academic advancement, (3) ensuring that nurses become full partners with physicians and other healthcare professionals in revamping healthcare in the United States, and (4) providing nurses with superior data collection tools and improved information infrastructure in order to stimulate effective workforce planning and policy making (Arzouman, 2016; Tanner, 2010; The future of nursing, 2010). While these key messages continue to take effect, the nursing profession has registered tremendous changes in ensuring superior quality of care through nurse education and training (Goeschel, 2011). However, available literature underscores several problems that continue to face our healthcare system, which include fragmentation of the healthcare system, continued regulatory limitations on nursing scope of practice, high rates of turnover among nurses, challenges for nursing professionals transitioning from school to practice, lack of diversity in the nursing workforce, and an aging American workforce (Fights, 2011). These challenges relate to the key messages contained in the “Future of Nursing” report.
The report contains eight recommendations that can trigger change and advance health, with the most important being removing scope of practice barriers, expanding opportunities for nurse professionals to lead and diffuse collaborative improvement efforts, and increasing the proportion of nurses with a baccalaureate degree to 80% by 2020 (Goeschel, 2011). Research is consistent that the barriers to the scope of practice continue to cripple efforts aimed at ensuring quality care delivery since most qualified nursing professionals are denied the opportunity to practice through discordant state and local nursing regulations (Fights, 2011). Other important recommendations contained in the report include implementing nurse residency programs, doubling the number of nurses with a doctorate by 2020, ensuring that nursing professionals engage in lifelong learning, preparing and facilitating nurses to lead change with the view to advancing health, and developing an infrastructure for the collection and analysis of inteprofessional healthcare workforce data (Tanner, 2010).
Making Decisions as a Future Nurse Leader
Since most of these recommendations touch on nursing education and training, it is important for nurse leaders to come up with strategies that will ensure that nurses are afforded the opportunity to continue with education (Tanner, 2010). For example, one of the key messages encourages nursing professionals to achieve higher levels of education and training through an enhanced education system, with supporting recommendations calling for an increase in the proportion of nurses with a baccalaureate and doctorate degree programs by 2020. Consequently, as a nurse leader, it is important to design and implement policies that aim to provide nurses with the opportunity to pursue higher education. This can be achieved by providing work-life balance programs in practice settings, role modeling nurses to enroll in nursing schools, partnering with institutions to seek information about their degree programs and mode of study for onward sharing with nurses, and ensuring that nurses are facilitated and empowered to develop their skills and competencies (Spivak, Smith, & Logsdon, 2011)
Additionally, this information could be used to increase nurse participation in the healthcare system, which in turn addresses the problems of nurse turnover and dissatisfaction with care. Since the “Future of Nursing” report underscores the value of facilitating nurses to practice to their full extent of their education and training, it is important for nurse leaders to come up with plans on how nurses under their watch are able to gain the necessary knowledge and skills that will enable them to practice to their fullest potential (Spivak et al., 2011). In this context, nurse leaders can engage in efforts aimed at securing funds and resources from the hospital’s senior leadership for use in training and educating nurses so that they are able to practice to their fullest potential.
Suggestions
Many healthcare facilities and educational institutions have already operationalized some suggestions contained in the report. For example, it is evident that most institutions have changed their recruitment strategies to implement the education message by aiming to recruit nurses with degrees and other higher qualifications. Additionally, it is evident that most facilities have invested in costly information and communication tools to ensure superior data collection and stimulate effective workforce planning and policy making.
Conclusion
Drawing from this discussion, it is evident that the “Future of Nursing” report could be used by nurse leaders and other stakeholders in the healthcare system to develop solutions for problems facing the contemporary healthcare environment. Overall, as the recommendations of the “Future of Nursing” report continue to be implemented in healthcare environments, there is need for nursing leaders to assume a central role in leading nurses to attain higher levels of education and practice to the full extent of their education and training.
References
Arzouman, J. (2016). The future of nursing 5 years later – who are we now? MEDSURG Nursing, 25(1), 5-43. Web.
Fights, S.D. (2011). Future of nursing initiative: Nurses are the key. MEDSURG Nursing, 20, 58-59. Web.
Goeschel, C. (2011). The future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health stories to ignite the transformation. Nursing in Critical Care, 16, 217-219. Web.
Spivak, M., Smith, A., & Logsdon, M.C. (2011). Developing expert clinical nurses: Grow them, hold them and let them walk away. Journal of Nursing Management, 19, 92-97. Web.
Tanner, C. (2010). Transferring prelicensure nursing education: Preparing the new nurse to meet emerging healthcare needs. Nursing Education Perspectives, 31, 347-353. Web.
The future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health. (2010). Web.