In 2010, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) issued a landmark report and evidence-based recommendations on the important role nursing will play in our nation's health care transformation.
To meet growing health care demands and challenges and to serve patients better, we need to change how nurses are educated, trained, and practice.
The Massachusetts Action Coalition is one of 51 coalitions working nationwide to advance nursing to meet current and future health care. Our goals are to:
- increase the percentage of Massachusetts nurses with baccalaureate and higher degrees who can manage increasingly complex patients and health system challenges in all practice settings;
- strengthen education and training so nurses in Massachusetts can meet the growing needs of an aging and ethnically diverse patient population;
- improve access to higher levels of nursing education by facilitating transfer of credits between degree programs and ensuring there is sufficient nursing faculty in our schools;
- eliminate outdated regulatory barriers and organizational policies that limit nurses from practicing to the full extent of their education and training;
improve data collection and analysis to better understand nursing workforce supply and demand
The Initiative on the Future of Nursing is rooted in the recommendations of the 2010 landmark report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). Through the Initiative, RWJF continues to support the research agenda set forth by the report and implement the recommendations in the areas of nurse training, education, professional leadership, and workforce policy.