According to the October 2010 IOM press release:
“Nurses’ roles, responsibilities, and education should change significantly to meet the increased demand for care that will be created by healthcare reform and to advance improvements in America’s increasingly complex health system. … Nurses should be fully engaged with other health professionals and assume leadership roles in redesigning care in the United States, said the committee. … To ensure its members are well-prepared, the profession should institute residency training for nurses, increase the percentage of nurses who attain a bachelor’s degree to 80 percent by 2020, and double the number who pursue doctorates. … Regulatory and institutional obstacles — including limits on nurses’ scope of practice — should be removed so that the health system can reap the full benefit of nurses’ training, skills, and knowledge in patient care.”
The system is preparing the public and the medical field itself to have nurses fill the void where there is a shortage of physicians in general practice or family medicine as well as to be the primary healthcare provider in geographical areas where doctors are in a shortage.
The only problem is that nurses have not undergone a residency program and the training is far less than those in the medical field. Are you ready to have your life decided by this?
