IOM: Nurses Need More Education, Training

With ranks of more than 3 million, nurses represent the largest workforce segment in healthcare. But if they are to have a greater impact on patient outcomes and safety, nurses require higher levels of education and better training, according to a report just released by the Institute of Medicine (IOM).

Sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, was a two-year, $10 million effort to identify actions the nursing community could take to "reimagine and reengineer the nursing profession so that it could radically change and address the big issues confronting our healthcare system," said RWJF President and CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey during a webcast to announce the report's findings.

"It's a seminal document that establishes the centrality of nursing in providing patient-centered, high-quality care that's efficient and effective," she said.

The RWJF Initiative on the Future of Nursing that produced the 550-plus-page report determined that the current healthcare system does not provide adequate incentives for nurses to pursue higher levels of education and training. In addition to positively impacting healthcare quality, better educated and trained nurses would fill more faculty and advanced practice roles that are currently experiencing a shortage of qualified individuals, the report concludes.

The initiative's committee, chaired by former Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) head Donna Shalala, recommends that "public and private organizations should provide resources to help nurses with associate degrees and diplomas pursue a Bachelor of Science in Nursing within five years of graduation and to help nursing schools ensure that at least 10 percent of their baccalaureate graduates enter a master's or doctoral program within five years."

"We must make certain there is a transition from program to program that is affordable and accessible for the nursing population to improve their skill and education level in a way that will provide opportunities to improve outcomes and safety for patients," said Shalala, who is president of the University of Miami, during the webcast. "We will expect 80 percent of the nurses in this country to have bachelor's degrees within a decade."

Specific recommendations from the report included:

• Nurses should be able to practice to the true extent of their education and training, which will require that "scope of practice" barriers imposed by states, federal agencies and healthcare organizations be removed, particularly given the millions of new patients expected to enter the healthcare system as part of the reform act.
• Nurses require seamless academic progression to facilitate their ability to achieve higher levels education and training via the creation of a residency program to help nurses transition from education to practice, as well as ongoing learning opportunities.
• Nurses should be full partners with physicians and other healthcare professions in redesigning the healthcare system in the United States by contributing on management teams, boards and other groups that shape the healthcare delivery system.
• The healthcare system requires improvements in workforce planning, policymaking, data collection information infrastructure to ensure that nurses, among other healthcare professionals, have the appropriate tools to excel in their positions.

 
The RWJF Initiative on the Future of Nursing that created the report will host a national conference in late November to discuss ways to implement the report's recommendations.

See also:

Doctor shortage looming? Use nurses, US report says

Nurses' push for greater role gets big ally