The Institute of Medicine’s The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health Report and Recommendations

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) funded the Committee on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing, at the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and its report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, issued in 2010. The Foundation congratulates the Committee and the IOM for producing this landmark report and its recommendations that serve as a blueprint to transform nursing and the delivery of health care in America. The Committee calls on our nation’s leaders and leading organizations concerned with providing high-quality health care to all Americans to act on its recommendations. RWJF is proud to support the Committee in this call to action to turn the recommendations into meaningful changes across America.

RWJF Commitment to Action on the IOM Recommendations

To help advance the report’s recommendations, RWJF in collaboration with AARP and its Center to Champion Nursing in America (CCNA), formed the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action. The campaign vision is that all Americans have access to high-quality, patient-centered care in a health care system where nurses contribute as essential partners in achieving success. RWJF and AARP recognize that it will take leadership and sustained efforts across national, state and local levels to fulfill the promise of the IOM report. More than 70 national organizations are connected to the campaign through CCNA’s Coalition and Council. The campaign is working through state Action Coalitions, powerful partners in seeking change at the state and local levels, where a groundswell of support is rapidly taking shape in demonstrable ways.

RWJF Commitment to Transforming Nursing in America

Because nursing is a critical component of improving health care, it is a priority for RWJF. The Foundation has committed $300 million to transform the nursing profession over the past 10 years, and plans are underway to announce additional new programming in response to the IOM report. RWJF programming will focus on these priorities:

• Education progression
• Nurse leadership
• Interprofessional collaboration

RWJF’s Commitment to the Human Capital of Health and Health Care

RWJF’s history of investments in the human capital of health care through research, programs and fellowships demonstrates the Foundation’s ongoing commitment to the individuals and groups who shape research, policy and practice as well as those who deliver care. It supports programs for doctors, dentists, nurses and other professionals; initiatives for front-line health workers; studies that build an evidence base; and projects that elevate best practices. The Foundation seeks collaborative, multi-disciplinary approaches and considers diversity a guiding principle.

For more information and to sign up for updates on these initiatives, visit www.thefutureofnursing.org and http://rwjf.org/humancapital.