Excerpts Of The Iom's Future Of Nursing

Health care as a whole in our country is evolving, becoming more complex as the health care needs of our respective communities change and also becoming complicated. Conversely, changes in the nursing profession are occurring on an everyday basis in an attempt to keep up with the different dynamics happening in our health care landscape today. These changes include, added responsibilities, increased demand in additional training and nurses charged with furthering their education. Health organizations and schools should engage in a conscious effort to increase the number of nurses with a baccalaureate degree (BSN) to 80 percent by 2020 (Institute of Medicine [IOM], 2010). IOM (2010) further recommended in their landmark, Future of Nursing report,

Our department time and discussed the report itself, had a dialogue about the Affordable Care Act and discussed their implications to surgical nursing practice. It was also right around this time when our hospital implemented preliminary steps in obtaining magnet status. Shortly after these events was when I decided to finally pursue a BSN degree. Hearing my manager’s words such as; “You’ll be required by 2020 to have the degree or our hospital will make a serious push to only hire BSN nurses,” this was what put myself in gear to take classes. I did not want to put myself in a situation where my associate degree would limit me from advancing in my career. Simply put, it was time to pursue a higher

I do believe that earning my BSN will give me further opportunities within my role now in my healthcare organization. As a clinical IT analyst, I have been involved in multiple implementation projects in different facilities as a team member. With a BSN degree, I can see myself pursuing a lead position on future projects, with maybe a small team of four people. Leading projects and overseeing their successful completion will hopefully earn me points when they are read on a resume. I’m not certain at this time if I will pursue a doctorate-level degree. However, I have started inquiring about continuing my education and enrolling in a clinical informatics program or a master’s degree program in clinical information technology. It is easy to see the trend of a connected world and health care is right in the middle of the push to implement integrated medical records. With a clinical informatics degree and some meaningful experience in implementing various medical-related projects, these can only help market my skills and standing as a