Professional Development of Nursing Professionals
According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report (2010), the nursing profession has become the nation’s largest health care workforce with more than three million active licensed members. Registered nurses (RNs) usually work in hospitals, physician inpatient or outpatient offices, home healthcare, nursing care facilities, correctional facilities, government offices, schools or public health offices, and within the military. There primary role is provide and coordinate patient care, educate patients and the public about health conditions, and provide advice as well as emotional support for the patients and their family members (Bureau of ...view middle of the document...
Nursing students can obtain a diploma in nursing; the bachelors of science in nursing (BSN); and the associate’s degree in nursing (ADN). Other more advanced nursing fields that are gaining ground are Nurse Practitioners (NP), Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRN), Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (ACRNA), etc. However, according to the IOM report (2010), as of 2008, 13.9% of nurses have a diploma, 36.1% are associate degree nurses, and 36.8% are bachelor degree nurses while only 13% have a master’s degree and less than one percent have a doctoral degree. The IOM’s committee is recommending nurses to achieve higher levels of education and training through an improved educational system that promotes seamless academic progression where 80% of nurses have a baccalaureate degree by 2020 and double the nurses have a doctoral degree by 2020. They also want nurses to engage in lifelong learning, perform more high quality competencies that include: leadership; health policy; evidence-based practice; teamwork and collaboration; and competencies specific to content areas such as community and public health; and the implementation of nurse residency programs for all entry-level nurses or nurses transitioning into new clinical practice areas (Institute of Medicine, 2010).
The impact of this report can be seen in 2016, with the majority of the hospital settings and employers implementing continued based learning (CBL) courses that are either unit specific or hospital wide for nurses and offering other incentives for continuing education nurses such as tuition reimbursement programs, scholarship and loan forgiveness, clinical partnerships, educational credits and discounts, and annual pay raises. Advancement among nurses is also being pushed by hospital’s who are looking for magnet status where a Bachelor’s degree for all nursing staff is a requirement and their ADN nurses are required to have a BSN by the 2020. Competencies are also beginning to take force within health care systems with evidence-based practice being used through research by the nurses and physicians about new procedures before they are introduced and performed and team work and collaboration being used as the entire treatment teams are being form such as respiratory therapists, physical therapists, registered nurses, physicians, etc. based upon the patient’s health care needs. Also hospitals and other larger health systems are beginning to implement residency programs for all entry-level nurses, new grad nurses, and nurses transitioning into new clinical practices that can range from nine weeks for a medical-surgical nurse up to one year for a critical care nurse all depending upon the nurses experience and the desired working area. Although residency programs are not widespread, they have been shown to reduce turnover rates among new graduate nurses, reduce educational costs, and increase the stability of staffing levels while helping first-year nurses develop critical...
