Medical & Health // Reflection: IOM Future of Nursing Recommendation
Reflection: IOM Future of Nursing Recommendation
[Student]
[Institution]
Reflection: IOM Future of Nursing Recommendation
In December 4, 2015, the Institute of Medicine released the IOM recommendations to help advance the future of nurses. With nearly over three million members, the nursing profession is by far the biggest sector in the medical health profession (The Institute of Medicine, 2010). Thus, it becomes almost imperative to ensure that the sector continues to exceed expectation and conquer the challenges and remove the barriers that deter growth of the profession. In lieu with this, three recommendations stood out which significantly affected the plight of nurses. This refers to Recommendations 4, 5, and 6. According to the three recommendations, nurses should seek ways to continuously improve their craft, and one of the ways to do it is advancing their education.
As a student nurse, I see this recommendations as a driving force that can serve as a motivation to strive for excellence. The demand for highly competent nurse is rising along with the need to fill in the gap in the shortage of experienced nurses. In a report released in July 2002 by the Bureau of Health Professionals, the supply of registered nurses in 2000 was recorded at 1.89 million, while the demand was around 2 million (The Bureau of Health Professionals, 2002). There was a 6% deficit then. This statistics quadruple in 2015, and is expected to grow to 29% by 2020. Nevertheless, the issue does not only lay on the shortage of nurses but on the shortage of qualified and competent nurses. At about this time, qualification and competency could no longer be dependent on tenure and experience but on educational accomplishments, and certifications which could prove proficiency and competency.
Personally, I believe this created more pressure on nurses to continue learning and earning titles. However, I also have doubts that this will increase proficiency and productivity. Having all the educational certificates, and the titles attached on one’s family name. needless to say, I can understand that by going to school to earn the degree, nurses will be able to pick out key pointers which they have not known prior to venturing to higher education program. I also see this as a way to always be updated to any new techniques, new methodologies and new approach in dealing with patients. Nevertheless, I could also see the downside of requiring and mandatory obliging nurses to get higher education. Nurses who have no funding for a higher education program may not climb up to the corporate ladder. We must admit it, even in the medical health profession, there is such a thing as hierarchy and to get into the top of the pyramid one must be able to meet several requirements and one of those included earning so many titles. Unfortunately, earning the titles does not simply require putting so many hours doing a specific job, nor does it require completing several cases. Earning the different titles would entail going back to school, getting a degree, working on internship, and acquiring certifications.
I sincerely believe that the intentions of those who developed the recommendations were good. Nevertheless, I don’t see how the titles and the degree can actually improve the service. As far as I am concern, the best teacher is still practice. Perhaps by taking a Doctorate in Nursing it would increase one’s chances of getting promoted to a higher rank. However, I do not see how the abbreviation, Ph.D. at the end of one’s name could guarantee that a nurse acquires all the skills and knowledge on how to better help patients. Furthermore, I believe that by imposing all these requirements and qualifications the problem on shortage of nurses will further increase because they will have a hard time meeting the new standard.
Reference
The Bureau of Health Professionals. (2002, July). The American Health Care Act Website. Retrieved from Projected Supply, Demand,and Shortages of Registered Nurses: 2000-2020: https://www.ahcancal.org/research_data/staffing/Documents/Registered_Nurse_Supply_Demand.pdf
The Institute of Medicine. (2010). The Future of Nursing: Leading Cange, Advancing Health. Washington, DC: The Institute of Medicine.
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