IOM Report: Reflection Paper
Job Market Options Based on Education Level
The ultimate objective of the IOM Report is to improve health care and patient outcomes, with nursing as a vital component needed to achieve this goal (Thew, 2019). Because of this, the demand for nurses is high. In the U.S. nursing job market, health care organizations employ nurses based on their levels of education. I am currently an associate’s degree nurse (ADN) with a Bachelor’s Degree in Health Science Education/Health Promotion and Wellness. Based on my education level, I suit to practice in various job market options: oncology, geriatric care, public health, radiology, labor and delivery, pediatrics, emergency, rehabilitation, family medicine, hospice, psychiatry, home health, radiology, and more (Perry & Emory, 2017). As an ADN, I can secure these job market options in health care organizations, hospitals, community centers, rehabilitation centers, schools (colleges and universities), government agencies, nursing care facilities, residential care facilities, pharmacies, urgent care centers, and specialty hospitals (Thew, 2019). Besides, with ADN education level, I can practice in any environment where hands-on health care is required, no matter at the state, local, or private facilities.
IOM Future of Nursing Recommendation for Achieving Higher Levels of Education
The IOM report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, addresses four essential points, with the second point emphasizing academic progression for nurses (Ulrich, 2015). As per the report, nurses need to achieve higher education and training levels via an advanced education system that promotes academic progression. To enhance the delivery of safe, client-centered care across health care facilities, the nursing education system has to be advanced. Due to the complex nature of patient needs, nurses have to acquire requisite competencies to deliver top-notch care (Perry & Emory, 2017). Examples of these competencies are health policy, research and evidence-based practice, system improvement, leadership, community health, geriatrics, teamwork and collaboration, and public health. The IOM report also calls upon the nurses to close the expanding nursing roles, master information management systems and technological modules, and coordinate and collaborate care within health professional groups/teams. According to (Petges & Sabio, 2020), achieving higher education levels would equip nurses with the required knowledge, skills, and expertise to respond to these increasing and complex care industry and patient demands.
Professional Certification and Advanced Degrees I want to Pursue
After earning the Associate’s Degree in Nursing, I will become a Registered Nurse (RN) and sit for the NCLEX exam to get my license as a nurse. Upon completing ADN, I want to enroll for higher degree programs: Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) and Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Degrees. The main reasons for wanting to attain higher education levels are improving the quality of patient care, building clinical skills for advanced pharmacology, advanced health assessment, and nursing research, and diversifying my specializations (Petges & Sabio, 2020). Also, pursuing higher education levels would equip me with advanced leadership skills and values, thus helping diversify market job options as a nursing/ health care leader. Besides, pursuing MSN and DPN Degrees would create personal and professional growth opportunities by advancing leadership competencies and exercising these competencies in diverse care settings. Also, pursuing higher education would equip me with practical workforce planning skills, better data collection skills, and innovative skills in the nursing field, as recommended by the IOM report (Thew, 2019).
Timeline for Accomplishing Education Goals
My education goals are to advance and pursue a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) and, thereafter, Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Degrees. Since I am an associate degree nurse (ADN), my ADN-to-MSN Degree program will take around three years to complete. This is due to the prerequisites and application requirements that must be met by all students seeking to advance their levels of education (Ulrich, 2015). In my case, I would be transitioning from ADN-RN into the MSN program. Since I do not have a BSN background, recognized higher learning institutions require three (3) years for successful completion of ADN-RN to MSN. Upon completing MSN, I would advance to MSN-DNP, a program that would take at least 500 clinical practice hours and 33 to 43 credits to accomplish. Given the nursing practice’s demanding nature, I would enroll for part-time classes for my DNP program, which would require two and a half (2.5) years to complete. Thus, I would need approximately six (6) years from now to accomplish my educational goals.
Significance of Advancing Education on my Competitiveness
Continuing nursing education will equip me with advanced skills, further information, and evidence-based practice skills that I can implement to improve patient outcomes (Perry & Emory, 2017). With my current ADN, there are areas in the nursing practice that I cannot engage in. Advancing to MSN and DNP will raise my competence, compared to my current level of education. With ADN, I have limited job options in the market; I cannot engage in health care facility leadership or management, nursing research, workforce planning policy-making, advanced data collection and interpretation, and health policy implementation (Petges & Sabio, 2020). Increasing my education level will enable me to partner with doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals in redesigning health care in the country. Thus, acquiring higher education and training will expose me to more health care and nursing job opportunities, for example, leadership-related competencies. In the future, I see myself becoming a nursing and health care organization leader and manager, where I will be leading and managing health care workers and ensuring delivery of high-quality care to patients (Ulrich, 2015). To become a competitive candidate for this position, advancing education is mandatory.
Relationship of Continuing Nursing Education to Competency, Attitudes, Knowledge, and the ANA Standards
As an ADN, I work in the surgery department. My next plan is to pursue Certification in outpatient surgery, CAPA Certification. I believe that continuing nursing education translates directly to advanced competency, knowledge, and attitude in the field of surgery. With advanced education, I would easily become certified to practice in outpatient surgery, whereby I would handle complex and critical care issues among diverse patients. I prefer the CAPA nursing certification program. It is designed by the (American Board of Perianesthesia Nursing Certification, [ABPANC], 2020) for R.N.s caring for patients who have experienced analgesia, sedation, and anaesthesia in an ambulatory care facility or hospital. Also, continuing nursing education conforms to the ANA standards of practice, which are set to guide assessment, diagnosis, identification of outcomes, treatment planning, implementation, and evaluation. These concepts are learned as one advances their education. Also, continuing nursing education creates opportunities through which the ANA Code of Ethics is learned; this helps nurses navigate complex and everyday ethical issues in all care practice settings (American Board of Perianesthesia Nursing Certification, [ABPANC], 2020).
Whether Continuing Nursing Education should be Mandatory
Continuing nursing education should be optional. But, for me, it is vital to advance the levels of education. I see the future of nursing mandating BSN for nurses. In my undergraduate, I graduated with a Bachelor in Health Science Education/Health Promotion and Wellness. This poses a threat to my job, with the possibility of the IOM mandating BSN for nurses. An ADN, which is my current education level, is one way of becoming an R.N. (Petges & Sabio, 2020). Thus, by advancing my ADN-to-MSN and MSN-DNP is crucial for me, for it will keep my profession and work safe against any form of laws which might be passed and enacted by the ANA, the state board for nurses licensing, and the IOM requiring all nurses to be holders of at least a BSN, or else their licenses as R.N.s get withdrawn (Ulrich, 2015). With an MSN and a DNP, my profession, competitiveness, and job would be safe. Also, continuing nursing education is crucial for me because I want to become a nursing leader in the future.
References
American Board of Pariansthesia Nursing Certification, Inc. (2020). CPAN® and CAPA® Certification. Author. https://www.cpancapa.org/
Perry, C., & Emory, J. (2017). Advocacy through education. Policy, Politics, & Nursing Practice, 18(3), 158-165. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1527154417734382
Petges, N., & Sabio, C. (2020). Understanding the enrollment decisions of associate degree nursing students: A qualitative study. Teaching and Learning in Nursing, 15(1), 25-31.
Thew, J. (2019). The future of nursing report: Where are we now? Health Leaders Media, 3-15. https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/nursing/future-nursing-report-where-are-we-now
Ulrich, B. (2015). Progress on the 2010 IOM future of nursing report and future needs. Nephrology Nursing Journal, 42(6), 527-529. https://europepmc.org/article/med/26875226