Generally Accepted Accounting Principles Deborah Gandy HCS571 June 3, 2013 Tamica Lewis

Generally Accepted Accounting Principles To meet health care changes resulting from decreased reimbursement an aging population, and technology the nursing professions responsibilities morphed from the bedside to the board room. In the last two decades a substantial increase in nurses in senior level positions in hospitals or other facilities reflects the need for nurses to obtain advanced degrees to meet the demands of heath care as a business. In a report published 2010, by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) the summary report clearly identifies the need for nurses to participate fully as partners to improve the nation’s health care system(“The future of nursing: leading change, advancing,” 2010). To that end, in order for nurses to participate actively in shaping the health care system nurses need education in what many consider as non-traditional nursing subjects, such as finance. In response to the need for education in finance nursing curricula include at least one course as an under graduate, and one on the post- graduate level. Together these courses provide both academic and practical knowledge the nurse manager can translate readily to manage an organization or an individual nursing unit (Finkler, Kovner & Jones, 2007). For nurses to begin to understand generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) recognizing that accounting shares two similar domains with nursing, science, and art. Though this concept may seem counter intuitive at first as accountings defining principles, and subsequent rules reflect the rigor typically associated solely with science according to