Assignment Instructions
Review "The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity," and explore the "Campaign for Action: State Action Coalition" website, both located in the topic Resources. In a 1,000-1,250-word paper, discuss the influence "The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health" and state-based action coalitions have had on nursing practice, nursing education, and nursing workforce development, and how they continue to advance the goals for the nursing profession.
Include the following:
Describe the work of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that led to the report, "The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity."
Explain the trend occurring in the nursing workforce and how nursing education is adapting to meet the evolving needs of the profession. What is the role of the nurse in leading change?
Discuss the role of state-based action coalitions. Explain how these coalitions help advance the goals specified in the National Academy of Sciences report, “The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity.”
Research the initiatives on which your state's action coalition is working. Summarize two initiatives spearheaded by your state's action coalition. Discuss the ways these initiatives advance the nursing profession.
Describe barriers to advancement that currently exist in your state and explain how nursing advocates in your state overcome these barriers.
Sample Answer
Introduction
The Future of the Nursing report lays out recommendations that create a more diversified and strong workforce. It prepares nurses to promote health and well-being among individual patients and the communities. In order to improve efficiency in care provision, nurses must provide important insights that are important in improvement of the patient safety and enhancing the quality of care delivered. This paper will discuss the contribution of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in the formulation of The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity, trends in the nursing workforce, and how nurse education adopts to changes in healthcare, State-Based Coalition roles and initiatives and barriers to nursing advancement in Colorado.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and the Future of Nursing Report
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that formulated The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity consisted of 18 committee members. It was chaired by Donna Shalala who was the Secretary of Health and Human Services. The members of the committee were experts in nursing, business, education, research, and public health. This committee focused on examining the knowledge and skills of the nurses and their ability to meet the health needs of the general public (Wakefield et al., 2021). More particularly, the committee examines the nurses' roles in improving the health of the communities, families, and individuals by addressing the social determinants of health. The committee examined the deployment of different nurses across the continuum of care and the barriers and facilitators in achieving a diverse workforce in terms of ethnicity, race, and gender and researched more on the competency-development skills and training needed for the nurses to provide high-quality care services. Other aspects that the committee examined are the ability of the nurses to serve as the change agents, the research needed to develop the most effective nursing practices, research required to develop more effective nurse practices, the importance of resilience and nurse wellbeing in the provision of high-quality care and the nurses' roles in responding emergencies in care provision.
Current Trends and Education
There are various trends that are occurring in the nursing workforce and this has led to a lot of changes in the healthcare system. One trend in how the nurses operate is travel nursing where they take assignments in hospitals in other States. Another trend that has emerged is a travel nursing career where nurses take short assignments in various hospitals. Nursing education has revolutionized to suit the trends in nursing. Nursing education meets this need by emphasizing on provision of culturally competent care to patients and families of different racial and ethnic groups. Telehealth education for nurses takes place in four stages; planning, preparing, providing, and performance evaluation. The planning stage involves the identification of the appropriate setting and patients for telehealth and barriers and facilitators to telehealth. In the preparation stage, patients are engaged in telehealth, and aspects of telehealth technology, etiquette, and delivery setting are considered. The providing stage involves guiding the nurses on how to deliver care through telehealth and performance evaluation involves assessment of the telehealth variables such as patient outcomes (Rutledge & Gustin, 2021). Prioritization of healthcare is another trend in healthcare today. Provision of nursing care services can be physically and emotionally exhausting to the nurses. Nurses are now being trained in self-care activities such as engaging in physical activities and attending counseling sessions. Another trend in healthcare is the utilization of Electronic Health Records (EHR). Nurses, through their healthcare organizations or independently can receive training on the utilization of EHR to enhance patient safety and provide high-quality care.
State-Based Action Coalitions and their Help in Advancing Goals from National Academy of Sciences
The State-based coalition drives changes in the nursing profession at the local level. There are various ways in which State-based coalitions are funded and some of them are funded by the Future of Nursing campaign through initiatives such as the State Implementation Program (SIP). The State-based coalition advances the goals of the Future of Nursing Report by advancing health equity through collaborative efforts across the multisector groups at the National, State, and Community levels (Crowder et al., 2022). Networking of the coalition provides important insight into addressing the challenges in healthcare and creating strategies necessary for promoting changes in healthcare. The coalition guides nurses in taking roles that eliminate health inequities in society. It allows the nurses to lead change initiatives and collaborate with other organizations to achieve health equity.
State Action Coalition Initiatives Advancing Nursing Profession
In Colorado, there are various research initiatives spearheaded by the State's action coalition. One of the initiatives is coaching and leadership training an initiative meant to enhance the ability of the nurses to utilize coaching effectively. The leaders are trained to create an organizational culture that enhances employee engagement in making decisions regarding their care. Another program by the State-Based Coalition in Colorado is a nursing workforce diversity program that incorporates the aspects of inclusion and diversity in nurses' training. Colorado started this initiative by receiving a diversity grant from the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) (Campaign for Action, 2023). The program emphasized more on mentorship, scholarly workshops, and lifelong learning.
Barriers to Advancement
In Colorado, various advancement barriers In Colorado can be overcome by nursing advocates. There are strict regulations on Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRN) practices in Colorado as unlike in other States they cannot practice to their full extent. Colorado is witnessing a shortage of nurses and nurse advocates can push for a healthy working environment that encourages nurse retention. There has also been inadequate placement of APRNs as healthcare organizations are reluctant to employ APRN students. Nurse advocates, through legislation, push for laws that relax regulations on the practice of APRN students.
Conclusion
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine participated in the formulation of the Future of Nursing Report. The committee comprises of 18 committee members from the different areas of expertise. This committee participated in research initiatives on the roles of nurses in bringing changes into the organizations. There are various trends in nursing and nursing education has fueled the trend in healthcare. These trends include; travel nursing career, telehealth, and use of Electronic Health Records (EHR). The State-Based Action Coalitions advance the goals of the National Academy of Sciences by leading the change initiatives and collaborating with other organizations to eliminate the health disparities. Additionally, in Colorado, the State-Based Action Coalitions advance the nursing profession through coaching leadership training and diversity programs. The
References
Campaign for Action. (2023). Colorado coalition for the future of nursing. https://campaignforaction.org/state/colorado/
Crowder, S. J., Tanner, A. L., Dawson, M. A., Felsman, I. C., Hassmiller, S. B., Miller, L. C., ... & Toney, D. A. (2022). Better together: Coalitions committed to advancing health equity. Nursing Outlook, 70(6), S48-S58. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0029655422000203
Rutledge, C. M., & Gustin, T. (2021). Preparing nurses for roles in telehealth: now is the time!. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 26(1). https://ojin.nursingworld.org/table-of-contents/volume-26-2021/number-1-january-2021/preparing-nurses-for-roles-in-telehealth-now-is-the-time/
Wakefield, M., Williams, D. R., & Le Menestrel, S. (2021). The future of nursing 2020-2030: Charting a path to achieve health equity. National Academy of Sciences. http://sadil.ws/bitstream/handle/123456789/781/The%20future%20of%20Nursing%202030.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y