IMPACT OF THE IOM REPORT ON NURSING EDUCATION, PRACTICE, AND LEADERSHIP
The demands for health care are increasing each day and will significantly increase with the new Affordable Care Act (ACA) now in place, which was passed by the United States Congress and later signed by President Obama in 2010. The passing of the ACA will ultimately allow millions of people who are un-insured to be insured and receive health care. In 2008, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) committee spent two years evaluating and transforming the nursing profession in order to help ready the future needs of healthcare. Two years later, on October 5, 2010 and just months after the ACA was signed, the IOM published its report named The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Healthcare which partially focuses on the transformation of nursing education, practice and leadership roles of nursing.
The IOM report focuses on the importance of nurses enhancing their education to meet the expanding technological advances and expansion of the nursing role by pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees. These opportunities include nursing research, education, and IOM’s main focus, Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN). A key point the committee states is that “nurses should achieve higher levels of education and training through an improved education system that promotes seamless academic progression" ("IOM Nursing Report," 2010). By achieving a higher level of education, this will allow a nurse with a Baccalaureate of Science in Nursing (BSN) to be likely hired in an acute care setting over a nurse with and Associates Degree in Nursing (ADN). I have dealt with this on a personal level and I have been denied an acute care position because I did not meet the BSN qualification. To overcome the rejection, I have enrolled in a BSN program in order to