Nursing Reflection Paper

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) made recommendations that call on American nurses to play a greater role in the increasingly complex health care system in this country. Among the recommendations, there were a few notable ones such as recommendation 4, aimed at increasing the proportion of nurses with a baccalaureate degree to 80 percent by year 2020. There was also Recommendation 5, which was aimed at doubling the number of nurses with a doctorate by 2020. Recommendation 6 is set to ensure that American nurses engage in lifelong learning. These are all aspects aimed at improving the health of health care given by the health care sector in this country to ensure longevity and comfort in our lives.

These are significant recommendations and they offer me numerous options in the job market once I complete, my Bachelors in nursing. There are several eligibility requirements that are needed for one to become a nurse in the United States of America. This is in terms of educational achievements as well as in terms of professional and behavioral ethics. In terms of educational achievements, one is expected to take the NCLEX-RN test after finishing their diploma, associate degree or a Bachelors (Parahoo, 2014). This exam tests minimum competency in the field nursing for a new graduate. Therefore, I feel that having a Bachelors degree in nursing will go a long way in helping me achieve my long life dream of caring for other people. Additionally, Registered Nurses are on high demand in the United States right now since there is a pinching shortage of qualified nursing personnel. In as much as this is an alarming fact, it offers me options to decide on the area I want to focus on after attaining my Bachelors in Nursing. However, there has been some controversy surrounding the appropriate entry-level for preparation of Registered Nurses (RNs).

Increasing my level of education will affect my competency in the current job market since I will have a better and broader understanding n caring for a patient’s needs as well as understanding thee policies that dictate good patient care as well as patients’ rights. I will also be in a position to improve my nursing skills. There are special skills that are needed in the nursing career. Nurses must be conversant with the nature of medication errors, discover the hazards pertaining to the use of medication, and the steps that can be taken to ensure safe administration of drugs (Orem, 2011). All medical practitioners involved in medication use are obliged to working together in order to mitigate the harm that medication use may cause to patients. These are all very important duties, hence when the nursing personnel is poorly skilled, a room for many errors is created.

However, increasing my level of education will affect my role in the future of nursing in a positive way, and in accordance with the new IOM recommendations. For instance, I can play significant roles when it comes to policy making matters. Research shows that nurses’ lobbyists are entrusted with so many roles, and I could become one of them. For instance, they are given the mandate to listen to what professionals in all the fields that are connected to health care think should be done to improve health care provision in the United States of America (Falk, 2014). These professionals could be legislators, politicians, people within different communities and even the nurses themselves. Legislators and other politicians who are involved in drafting of health care policies in this country should also have a say on how a health care policy should be drafted and enacted, to make sure that all loopholes that might come up in a policy are properly addressed. However, I feel that nurses can also move out of their comfort zone and assume the role of policy advocates in this country, if we are ever going to have an effective and efficient health care system that looks after the needs of a common citizen. This means developing interest in other arenas, especially in areas where laws and regulations that affect health care quality are developed. This is a responsibility that can really be challenging and time consuming, however, accepting this responsibility can offer any nurse a chance to make a difference in the lives of many patients together with their families (Falk, 2014). This would also mean that a nurse gets a feeling of satisfaction for being a part of a team that brings better health care policies, paving way for the development a better health care system in the community.

References

Falk, N. L. (2014). A Health Policy Resource Guide for Nurses. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 45(5), 203.

Orem, D. E. (2001). Nursing: Concepts of practice. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Parahoo, K. (2014). Nursing research: principles, process and issues. Palgrave Macmillan.