Health, Health care, Health care provider Nursing Essay

Impact of the 2010 IOM Report on Nursing
Grand Canyon University: NRS 430V

In 2010, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law by the United States government and is the largest health care reform since Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965. With this new legislation, there will be a huge transformation of the health care system we know today. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) is an organization that is independent of government and provides unbiased advice used in making informed legislative decisions about health care. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), the largest philanthropy in the United States, collaborated with the IOM to evaluate and transform the nursing profession in order to provide quality, cost-effective care for the growing population in need. It is projected that 32 million Americans will receive insurance coverage with the ACA, exponentially increasing the patient load of health care providers. The IOM recognizes nursing as the largest profession in health care and states, “By virtue of its numbers and adaptive capacity, the nursing profession has the potential to effect wide ranging changes in the health care system” (Institute of Medicine, 2010). This paper will discuss how the IOM report impacts nursing education, practice in primary care, and the role of nurses as leaders. The IOM recommends the percentage of Baccalaureate level nurses reach 80% by 2020 because these nurses function with a higher level of competencies. According to the ANA, higher education “provides a more in depth treatment of the physical and social sciences, nursing research, public and community health, nursing management, and the humanities which enhances the student’s professional development and provides a foundation for progression to advance practice roles” (ANA, 2008).