Activity

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

Type:

Consensus Study

Topic(s):

Health Care Workforce, Quality and Patient Safety, Health Services, Coverage, and Access

Board(s):

Studies under the IOM Executive Office

Activity Description

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) in collaboration with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) will establish a major initiative on the Future of Nursing. The initial cornerstone of the program would be conduct of a major study whose goal would be to produce a transformational report on the future of nursing.

An ad hoc committee will examine the capacity of the nursing workforce to meet the demands of a reformed health care and public health system. It will develop a set of bold national recommendations, including ones that address the delivery of nursing services in a shortage environment and the capacity of the nursing education system. In its report, the committee will define a clear agenda and blueprint for action including changes in public and institutional policies at the national, state and local levels. Its recommendations would address a range of system changes, including innovative ways to solve the nursing shortage in the U.S.

The committee may examine and produce recommendations related to the following issues, with the goal of identifying vital roles for nurses in designing and implementing a more effective and efficient health care system:

• Reconceptualizing the role of nurses within the context of the entire workforce, the shortage, societal issues, and current and future technology;
• Expanding nursing faculty, increasing the capacity of nursing schools, and redesigning nursing education to assure that it can produce an adequate number of well prepared nurses able to meet current and future health care demands;
• Examining innovative solutions related to care delivery and health professional education by focusing on nursing and the delivery of nursing services; and
• Attracting and retaining well prepared nurses in multiple care settings, including acute, ambulatory, primary care, long term care, community and public health.

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