NRS 440 Future of Nursing Report

Sample Answer

Nurses play a critical role as they form the largest part of healthcare professions. In its report, “The Future of Nursing 2020-2030 Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity,” the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) asserts that nurses will play a significant role in helping state and federal government to attain health equity.

The report builds on a nursing foundation as a core care contributor and advances a framework positioning nurses to enhance equity, lower disparities, and support patient-centered and family-focused care in the future through education, a healthy workplace environment, and enhanced professional autonomy (Hassmiller et al., 2022).

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the future of nursing based on the report and past Institute of Medicine (IOM) reports and state-based action coalitions on nursing practice, nursing education, and nursing workforce development.

Work of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM)mThe National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) is a non-profit organization that works collaboratively with federal and state government agencies and other stakeholders to provide objective scientific insights into issues that impact the public.

In its report, “The Future of Nursing 2020-2030 Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity,” NASEM aimed at exploring the possible contributions and role of nurses in promoting health equity in the U.S. health system. The report stresses the significant role of nurses in reducing disparities and improving the quality of care for all populations (Hassmiller et al., 2022).

The work entailed collecting evidence and views on the work of nurses in the healthcare system, especially serving marginalized populations and advocating policies to promote health equity. The committee of experts reviewed the literature, collected views from various stakeholders, and deliberated throughout several sessions.

Imperatively, the report offers a roadmap for the nursing profession to address disparities, enhance quality of care, and promote health equity mainly through nursing education, research, and practice.

The work by the organization suggests increasing opportunities for nurses in different areas of life, improving nursing education, and recognizing those serving underserved areas. The report also notes the critical shortage of experienced nurses caring for vulnerable populations like children and older individuals (Smiley et al., 2021).

The report recommends the nursing curriculum focus on health disparities emanating from gender identity, and socioeconomic factors to help equip nurses with sufficient knowledge about the health industry.

Trends Occurring in the Nursing Workforce

Several trends are defining the nursing workforce. These include increased enrollment for advanced nursing education through the attainment of higher qualifications, an aging nursing workforce, and increasing diversity among patients and even nurses necessitating the integration of culturally competent care.

The evolving needs of the professions mean that nursing education curricula should transform and align with trends like increased care demand and the need for specialized nursing care.

Nursing education is adapting to these changes by emphasizing lifelong learning and training for nurses, integrating diversity and inclusion through culturally competent education for nurses, and increasing focus on community and public health (Llop-Gironés et al., 2021).

For instance, the NASEM report asserts that nursing schools should prepare nurses to understand and identify social determinants of health, and have expanded learning experiences in the community so they can work with diverse patients, health populations, and stakeholders with varied life experiences and cultural values.

Nurses should also have competencies to care for an aging and more demanding population due to the increased prevalence of chronic conditions associated with old age.

Nurses are change champions as they advocate innovative ways to improve patient outcomes and care delivery. As such, the role of nurses in leading change entails implementing new evidence-based practices and policies, participating in policy development, and advocating better interventions to enhance patient care delivery (Smiley et al., 2021).

As leaders, nurses can help drive improvements in patient care through the implementation of evidence-based practice (EBP) interventions and by offering culturally-competent care to diverse patient populations.

Role of State-Base Action Coalitions

Attaining health equity through the help of nurses requires a comprehensive approach that includes state-based action coalitions. These coalitions are led by nurses and business partners to drive change at the local level by working to transform health care through nursing and developing healthier communities.

The state-based action coalitions (SBACs) advocate policies that improve health outcomes and promote health equity by working with legislators and other policymakers to pass regulations and laws supporting the nursing profession and patient care.

The coalitions also promote the education and training of nurses to ensure that they get the necessary skills, abilities, and knowledge to offer high-quality patient care (Campaign for Action, 2024). Thirdly, the coalitions also engage their communities to determine health needs and develop strategies to address them. They raise awareness about health issues and promote healthy behaviors.

The state-based action coalitions advance the goals of the National Academy of Sciences report by promoting health equity as they work to eliminate disparities through policy advocacy.

These coalitions improve access to care, especially for underserved populations by advocating policies that expand the nursing practice scope and enable them to offer a broad range of services. The coalitions also work to build a diverse nursing workforce by promoting educational opportunities for underrepresented groups in nursing.

State Initiatives and Advancing the Nursing Profession

As stated, a majority of states have action coalitions that aim at improving access to healthcare through the training of nurses and other healthcare providers. The two initiatives in the state include advancing inter-professional collaboration and advocating full practice authority for nurse practitioners so that they can offer services based on their level of education and training (Sumpter et al., 2022).

These two initiatives are essential as they focus on improving care delivery and outcomes for patients and engagement among healthcare providers.
The initiatives advance the nursing profession in various ways. Firstly, the initiatives improve collaboration among nurses based on their specialty areas to enhance patient outcomes.

Through collaboration, nurses develop a shared approach to providing patient care. Secondly, the initiatives improve skills and experience among nurses to provide better patient-centered care by attending to diverse patients based on their needs and concerns (Llop-Gironés et al., 2021).

Thirdly, full practice authority implies that nurses can advance their education and acquire the necessary skills to cater to patients with diverse healthcare needs.

Full practice authority advances the nursing practice as it means that nurses engage in specialty areas based on their skills and expertise; from research to leadership roles in their respective organizations and practice settings.

Barriers to advancement and overcoming them

The lack of full practice authority, limited support for nurses, and insufficient nursing resources are critical barriers to the advancement of the nursing profession in the state. These barriers imply that nurses cannot practice to the full extent of their education and training as they have restrictions on how to offer care.

Support for nurses and allocation of sufficient resources means that nurses cannot gain better skills and training to enhance their competency levels and improve patient care delivery.

Nurse advocates are overcoming these barriers through improved advocacy for the removal of practice limits for nurses, developing policies aimed at increasing patient-centered care, and working with stakeholders to get resources to enhance nursing education (Hassmiller et al., 2022b). These approaches are essential as they imply that nurses can work with all stakeholders to improve care delivery and reduce health disparities.

Conclusion

The NASEM report asserts that nursing is critical in attaining health equity for the American population. The report notes that nurses should enhance their skills and engage all stakeholders to improve the quality of care offered to patients.

State-based action coalitions (SBACs) can help overcome the current practice barriers by creating awareness and engaging stakeholders using advocacy on policies and implementation of evidence-based practice (EBP) interventions.

References

• Campaign for Action (2024). State Action Coalitions.
  https //campaignforaction.org/our-network/state-action-coalitions/
  Hassmiller, S. B., & Wakefield, M. K. (2022). The future of nursing 2020–2030 Charting a path
  to achieve health equity. Nursing Outlook, 70(6), S1-S9.
  DOI https //doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2022.05.013
  
• Hassmiller, S. B., & Mahoney, A. D. (2022). Leveraging the resources of foundations to advance
  health equity. Nursing outlook, 70(6), S59-S65. https //doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2022.05.012
  
• Llop-Gironés, A., Vračar, A., Llop-Gironés, G., Benach, J., Angeli-Silva, L., Jaimez, L., … &
  Julià, M. (2021). Employment and working conditions of nurses where and how health inequalities have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic? Human Resources for Health, 19, 1-11. DOI 10.1186/s12960-021-00651-7.
  
• Smiley, R. A., Ruttinger, C., Oliveira, C. M., Hudson, L. R., Allgeyer, R., Reneau, K. A., … &
  Alexander, M. (2021). The 2020 national nursing workforce survey. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 12(1), S1-S96. DOI https //doi.org/10.1016/S2155-8256(21)00027-2
  
• Sumpter, D., Blodgett, N., Beard, K., & Howard, V. (2022). Transforming nursing education in
  response to the Future of nursing 2020–2030 report. Nursing outlook, 70(6), S20-S31. https //doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2022.02.007