Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing, at the Institute of Medicine

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The Future of Nursing explores how nurses' roles, responsibilities, and education should change significantly to meet the increased demand for care that will be created by health care reform and to advance improvements in America's increasingly complex health system.

At more than 3 million in number, nurses make up the single largest segment of the health care work force. They also spend the greatest amount of time in delivering patient care as a profession. Nurses therefore have valuable insights and unique abilities to contribute as partners with other health care professionals in improving the quality and safety of care as envisioned in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) enacted this year.

Nurses should be fully engaged with other health professionals and assume leadership roles in redesigning care in the United States. To ensure its members are well-prepared, the profession should institute residency training for nurses, increase the percentage of nurses who attain a bachelor's degree to 80 percent by 2020, and double the number who pursue doctorates. Furthermore, regulatory and institutional obstacles—including limits on nurses' scope of practice—should be removed so that the health system can reap the full benefit of nurses' training, skills, and knowledge in patient care.

In this book, the Institute of Medicine makes recommendations for an action-oriented blueprint for the future of nursing.

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700 pages · 6 x 9 · hardcover, paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-48319-0
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-15824-9
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17226/12956

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Institute of Medicine. 2011. The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

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As the U.S. health care system continues to evolve, the role of nurses also needs to evolve. Nurses must strike a delicate balance among advancing science, translating and applying research, and caring for individuals and families across all settings. Preparing nurses to achieve this balance is a significant challenge. The education system should ensure that nurses have the intellectual capacity, human responsiveness, flexibility, and leadership skills to provide care and promote health whenever and wherever needed. Education leaders and faculty need to prepare nurses with the competencies they need now and in the future. They need to prepare nurses to work and assume leadership roles not just in hospitals, but in communities, clinics, homes, and everywhere else nurses are needed.

On February 22, 2010 the Initiative on the Future of Nursing held the last public forum in a series of three at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. This forum, which covered the education of nurses, consisted of three armchair discussions. Each discussion was led by a moderator from the committee and focused on three broad, overlapping subjects: what to teach, how to teach, and where to teach. The verbal exchange among the discussants and moderators, prompted by additional questions from committee members at the forum, produced a wide-ranging and informative examination of questions that are critical to the future of nursing education. Additionally, testimony presented by 12 individuals and comments made by members of the audience during an open microphone session provided the committee with valuable input from a range of perspectives.

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88 pages · 6 x 9 · paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-15282-8
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-15283-6
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17226/12894

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Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Summary of the February 2010 Forum on the Future of Nursing: Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

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The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing, at the IOM, seeks to build a blueprint for the future of nursing as part of larger efforts to reform the health care system. The second of the Initiative's three forums was held on December 3, 2009, and examined care in the community, focusing on community health, public health, primary care, and long-term care.

Publication information

86 pages · 6 x 9 · paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-15279-8
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-15280-1
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17226/12893

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Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Summary of the December 2009 Forum on the Future of Nursing: Care in the Community. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

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The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing, at the IOM, seeks to transform nursing as part of larger efforts to reform the health care system. The first of the Initiative's three forums was held on October 19, 2009, and focused on safety, technology, and interdisciplinary collaboration in acute care.

Publication information

82 pages · 6 x 9 · paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-15021-3
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-15022-1
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17226/12855

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Institute of Medicine. 2010. A Summary of the October 2009 Forum on the Future of Nursing: Acute Care. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

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