FUTURE OF NURSING: CAMPAIGN FOR ACTION
In 2010, the Institue of Medicine (IOM) published a report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health. The report recommends that:
- Nurses should practice to the full extent of their education and training.
- Nurses should achieve higher levels of education and training through an improved education system that promotes seamless academic progression.
- Nurses should be full partners, with physicians and other health care professionals, in redesigning health care in the United States.
- Effective workforce planning and policy-making require better data collection and an improved information infrastructure.
The Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action is driven by the recommendations from the IOM report and seeking to transform health care through nursing by moblizing nationwide networks of coalitions representing nurses, other health providers, consumers, businesses and others. The effort is backed nationwide by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and AARP. More information can be found at the Future of Nursing Campaign for Action website - www.campaignforaction.org.
Texas has joined as a state action coalition. Here is information about the Texas coalition. Leadership at state level includes Alexia Green, Professor and Dean Emeritus, Anita Thigpen Perry School of Nursing, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center; Cindy Johnson, Vice President Clinical Services, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas; and Ellarene Sanders, Director, Texas Nurses Association. Regions across the state have put together regional teams as well. North Texas team is led by Julie Thomas, Director of Education and Nursing Practice at Baylor All-Saints Medical Center in Fort Worth.
For more information, please see these websites:
Future of Nursing Campaign for Action
Texas Nurses Association
Texas Center for Nursing Workforce Studies
The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health Report
Advancing Your Nursing Education
American Association of Colleges of Nursing and National Organization for Associate Degree Nursing have published an academic progression brochure, Envision Your Nursing Future, Taking the Next Step in Your Nursing Education to assist nurses in considering their next step in their nursing education. It addresses the 2010 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Institute of Medicine report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health recommendation that nurses should achieve higher levels of education and training through an improved education system that promotes seamless academic progression.