RWJF joins push to widen nurses' roles

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has begun collaborating with AARP and five states to push an agenda outlined in a recent Institute of Medicine report that advocates giving advanced-practice nurses more autonomy and leadership roles in medicine.

The report, “The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health,” is the subject of a two-day conference in Washington this week where nursing leaders will discuss plans to advance the IOM recommendations across the country. The report also urges greater educational attainment for nurses and standardization in higher education nursing programs.

Physicians groups have taken a skeptical view of the report, saying efforts to overturn the state-by-state rules governing nurses' official powers jeopardize quality by putting patients in the hands of inadequately trained clinicians. While nurses argue that expanding nurse roles could address the primary-care physician shortage, doctors note that nurses have a well-documented workforce shortage of their own.

The states collaborating with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to advance recommendations in the report are California, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey and New York.

For more on this issue, register for a Modern Healthcare webcast on Wednesday looking at the practical implications of expanded roles and responsibilities for advanced practice nurses in the post-reform healthcare system.