Nurses Should Play a Larger Role in Healthcare, IOM Says from MedPage Today

By Emily P. Walker, Washington Correspondent, MedPage Today

Expansion of nurses' scope of practice is just one of the ways to meet the growing demands for healthcare services created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that are detailed in a new report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM).

"Restrictions on scope of practice, policy- and reimbursement-related limitations, and professional tensions have undermined the nursing profession's ability to provide and improve both general and advanced care," according to the summary from "The Future of Nursing, Leading Change, Advancing Health."

The report, prepared by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing at the IOM, has four key messages that "informed the recommendations" of a joint committee chaired by former Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Donna Shalala:

• Nurses practice should reflect their educational level.
• More nurses should pursue higher levels of education through an improved system.
• Nurses should be "full partners" in the redesign of U.S. healthcare.
• Better data collection and information infrastructure are needed for planning work force and policy changes.

Full Article

Related articles by Zemanta

• AACN Applauds the New Institute of Medicine Report Calling for Transformational Change in Nursing Education and Practice (eon.businesswire.com)
• Doctor shortage looming? Use nurses, report says (reuters.com)
• Doctor Shortage Looming? Use Nurses, Report Says (nlm.nih.gov)
• Not for Nurses Only! (rwjfblogs.typepad.com)
• You: Washington Hospital Center nurses' labor dispute reflects tensions across U.S. (washingtonpost.com)
• Nurse practioner: Let's do what we're trained to do (Morning Read) (medcitynews.com)

Health Business Blog: Welcoming immigrants and robots to fill the nursing shortage

by David E. Williams of the Health business blog

In Nursing crisis looms as baby boomers age, CNN Money repeats a well-known story: there are unlikely to be enough nurses to take care of people as they age. Nursing schools can’t keep up with the demand and trouble awaits. We’ll face a shortage of 260,000 RNs by 2025, we’re told.

I don’t really believe it’s such a big deal.

There are two good solutions to the problem, and they aren’t mutually exclusive:

1. Increase the recruitment of nurses from abroad
2. Substitute technology for labor


Continue Reading

Nurses Involvement in Nursing Home Culture Change: Overcoming Barriers, Advancing Opportunities - The Commonwealth Fund

To be successful, "culture change" initiatives—efforts to help nursing homes transform from institutional hospital-like settings to homes that focus on residents' preferences—depend critically on the care provided for and directed by nursing homes' professional nursing staff. While the objectives of culture change and the goals of nursing are compatible in many ways, there are also points of friction—including those stemming from new notions of accountability for resident care and the necessity of new leadership styles. A recent "Issue Paper" from the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing (New York University College of Nursing), Nurses Involvement in Nursing Home Culture Change: Overcoming Barriers, Advancing Opportunities, explores these obstacles and makes recommendations about nurses' roles and competencies regarding nursing home culture change, as well as recommendations for nursing education. The publication, which resulted from a Commonwealth Fund–sponsored meeting of interdisciplinary experts in culture change and in gerontological nursing convened by the Hartford Institute in collaboration with the Coalition of Geriatric Nursing Organizations and the Pioneer Network, is organized in five sections covering: culture change and research supporting culture change; nursing in nursing homes; culture change, nursing practice, and nursing education; recommendations; and next steps.

Read Issue Paper