Nursing Practice Reflection Paper
Part 1
Since the Future of Nursing recommendations was released by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), nurses have worked hard to ensure that they fit into each one of them. For instance, nurses strive to obtain the right academic qualifications from institutions of higher learning to enable them to perform their roles effectively (Reinhard and Hassmiller, 2015). Personally, I see myself fitting into recommendation 4, recommendation 5, and recommendation 6 documented by the Institute of Medicine.
The IOM recommends that nursing practice in the United States can be transformed by increasing the number of nurses who graduate with baccalaureate degrees to 80 percent by the year 2020. According to the IOM, relevant accrediting bodies should work in collaboration with academic nurse leaders, employers, as well as public and private funders to ensure that student nurses obtain the right academic qualifications that can enable them to deliver quality care to diverse populations.
This means that the number of student nurses who are enrolled in baccalaureate degrees should increase for the fourth IOM recommendation to be implemented successfully (The Institute of Medicine, 2010). Since I am preparing to graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree in a few years to come, I am confident that I perfectly fit into the IOM Future of Nursing recommendation four.
I will effectively apply the knowledge and skills that I will acquire from my baccalaureate degree to deliver quality healthcare to diverse populations. In this manner, I believe that I will form part of nurses who graduate with baccalaureate degrees by the year 2020 as I continue to deliver care that is intended to improve nursing practice in the United States.
The IOM also gives a recommendation that the number of nurses who possess doctorate degrees should double by 2020 for nursing practice in the United States to be improved. Under recommendation five, the IOM directs academic nurses to collaborate with both public and private funders as well as with accrediting bodies to increase the number of student nurses who are enrolled into and who graduate with doctorate degrees (AnneMarie, 2016; & The Institute of Medicine, 2010).
Since I am planning to be enrolled in a Master’s program once I complete my undergraduate degree, and into a doctorate degree program thereafter, I believe that I will fit into the IOM Future of Nursing recommendation five. From the doctorate degree program, I will acquire advanced nursing knowledge that I will apply to carry out nursing research for an improved nursing practice. I, therefore, believe that I will form part of nurses who possess doctorate qualifications by 2020.
The IOM recommends that nursing institutions should engage in long-term learning for nursing practice in the United States to be improved. Under recommendation six, healthcare organizations, accrediting bodies, and educators are required to join hands in ensuring that student nurses, as well as graduate nurses, engage in prolonged learning with the aim of acquiring competencies that will enable them to deliver quality care to patients from different backgrounds (The Institute of Medicine, 2010; & AnneMarie, 2016).
Personally, I undertake numerous training that is related to nursing care even as I strive to achieve higher academic qualifications. For this reason, I have been able to obtain relevant knowledge and skills that I intend to apply in delivering quality care to patients in future. Since I currently engage in lifelong learning, I perfectly see myself fitting into the IOM Future of Nursing recommendation six.
Part 2
Increasing my level of education will positively affect how I compete in the current job market. According to McHugh and Lake (2011), today’s health care organizations are keen to hire nurses who possess relevant clinical nursing expertise because this is critical to health care quality. For this reason, only nurses who possess relevant nursing knowledge and skills can effectively compete in the current job market.
Individual nurse education has been identified as one of the factors that help to increase clinical nursing expertise (McHugh and Lake, 2011). In this regard, nurses who obtain high levels of education are believed to be in a better position to compete in the job market than those who do not. By increasing my level of education, I believe that I will possess the right clinical expertise that will enable me to compete favorably in the current job market.
Increasing my level of education will greatly change my role in the future of nursing. As Black, Balneaves, Garossino, Puyat, and Qian (2015) explain, future nurses are expected to engage in nursing research in order to generate data that can be used to promote evidence-based practice. Knowledge of how nursing research should be conducted is best acquired through nursing education.
This is because instructors normally teach nurses on how they can use evidence obtained from research to inform evidence-based practice. In addition, through nursing education, nurses are able to learn the best approaches to research that will generate important information that can be used to improve health care delivery (Ketefian and Redman, 2015). Therefore, increasing my level of education will enable me to perform both nursing practice roles as well as research roles.
References
AnneMarie, P. (2016). The future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health…how are we doing? Nursing Critical Care, 11(3):4.
Black, A. T., Balneaves, L. G. Garossino, C., Puyat, J. H. & Qian, H. (2015). Promoting evidence-based practice through a research training program for point-of-care clinicians. The Journal of Nursing Administration, 45(1): 14-20.
Ketefian, S. & Redman, R. W. (2015). A critical examination of the developments in nursing doctoral education in the United States. Revista Latino-American de Enfermagem, 23(3): 363-371.
McHugh, M. D. & Lake, E. (2011). Understanding clinical expertise: Nurse Education, experience, and the hospital context. Research in Nursing & Health, 33(4): 276-287.
Reinhard, S. & Hassmiller, S. (2015). The future of nursing: Transforming health care. The AARP International Journal, retrieved from https://www.journal.aarpinternational.org/
The Institute of Medicine. (2010). The future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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