Health Care Roles

Title Page

The Institute of Medicine released a report in October 2010 that set out to answer the question, “what roles can nursing assume to address the increasing demand for safe, high-quality, and effective health care services?” . Three ways that the report suggests to do this are to utilize nurses to their full extent of education and training, a higher level of education for nurses and a stronger leadership role. . Nurses make up the largest segment of the health care workforce and have the capacity to positively impact healthcare in the future, especially with the changes coming from the Affordable Care Act.
Nursing is one of the few professions that has several educational pathways to licensure. In order to qualify
The changing healthcare system in the United States requires that “the system undergo a fundamental shift to provide patient-centered care; deliver more primary as opposed to specialty care; deliver more care in the community rather than the acute care setting; provide seamless care”.. Gone are the days of just treating a patient in a hospital once he or she has become ill. Patients are being educated about disease prevention and health promotion in their communities, there is improved access to care for the poor and those in rural areas and there is hospice care available. Nurses are at the core of this shift and help to provide a high quality of care more safely and with fewer errors. With the shortage of healthcare providers, advanced practice registered nurses should be given more responsibilities and a broader scope of practice. Some hospitals and healthcare facilities are already making changes and are seeing positive results. The impact of employing nurses in a substantial way will continue to improve patient care and promote health and wellness; however there are some issues that will need to be addressed. It is true that nurses are capable of doing more with their experience, skills and education, but nurse to patient ratios is a major factor in why nurses aren’t doing more. It would be ideal if the nurse could provide care to a patient in the hospital, provide thorough education about the disease process and prevention, address any spiritual and social services needs and coordinate any home health or therapy requirements. However, with a nurse to patient ratio of 1:4 or 1:5 and several discharges and new admits every day, this is unlikely in the acute care setting. I strive to provide seamless care for my patients and give as much of myself and my time as I can, but I also have no choice but to rely on other sources, such as social services and case management.