Today’s healthcare environment is fast-paced and dynamic, nurses must be prepared to inspire, innovate, and lead healthcare transformation (Sensmeier, 2021). Nursing is a knowledge-intensive profession. Nurses possess a deep understanding of clinical needs and are adept at identifying and communicating ideas and opportunities for improvement.
Nurses are also instrumental in improving access to quality care, implementing technology, taking on new roles, addressing social determinants of health (SDOH), and leading the way in revolutionizing healthcare.
Nurses play a crucial role in improving access to quality healthcare by creating opportunities for interdisciplinary care. This includes helping clients navigate the healthcare system, engaging in preventive care, providing referrals to support services in the community, delivering care in various environments, and focusing on the overall well-being of the individual, family, and community. Additionally, nurses help clients overcome barriers to quality care, such as structural inequities and implicit bias, through care management, person-centered care, and cultural humility (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2021).
The increasing use of technology has made a significant impact on nursing practice and has become essential in the healthcare arena. Technology offers cost-effective solutions, enhances safety, and improves patient outcomes (ANA, 2024). Electronic health records enable nurses to access client records in real time, streamline documentation, improve communication, and reduce errors (ANA, 2024). Additionally, technology provides convenient and efficient care options; for example, robotic assistance can decrease nurse workloads by handling repetitive tasks, transporting specimens, delivering linens, and performing other duties. With technology, nurses can also streamline medication management using electronic systems and utilize artificial intelligence, such as automated charting, to increase time for client assessment and interaction. Portable electronic devices increase access to remote care, self-monitoring, and improved telehealth services.
Nurses are revolutionizing healthcare by taking on new roles both in their healthcare organizations and beyond their organizational boundaries. Nurses can be champions in their institutions bringing new ideas, conducting research to improve client outcomes, advancing their education, and leading teams (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2021). Beyond their institution nurses can promote community health, advocate for systems change and health policy, foster the redesign of nursing education, seek entrepreneurial opportunities, and create innovative approaches to healthcare delivery.
Nurses play a vital role in advancing health equity and reducing disparities by addressing SDOH, providing health education, and implementing evidence-based strategies to improve population health. Achieving health equity requires ongoing societal efforts to address historical and contemporary injustice, overcome economic and social barriers to healthcare access, and eliminate preventable health disparities (Bowker & Kerkove, 2023). Drawing on their tradition of problem-solving and quality improvement in clinical settings, nurses can use their experiences and skills to tackle SDOH issues (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2021). There is an increasing need for nurses to take the lead in developing effective strategies to improve the nation’s health, especially for underserved individuals, neighborhoods, and communities, and to prioritize the promotion of health equity (ANA, 2024).
Engaging in professional nursing organizations provides valuable resources, leadership opportunities, networking, and ongoing education (ANA, 2024). The Iowa Nurses Association (INA) offers continuing education through quarterly Town Halls that address relevant practice issues and INA Legislative Day that inform nurses about critical legislation affecting the profession and healthcare. The INA educational offerings present opportunities to enhance knowledge, connect with peers, innovate practice, advance your career, and inspire future leaders.
The INA fall conference, themed “REVOLUTIONIZING HEALTHCARE, EMBRACING INNOVATION”, will showcase national and local speakers, nursing research leaders, visionary nurse entrepreneurs, creative innovators, and transformative educators.
Register for the INA fall conference, feel the energy, and join the revolution!
References
American Nurses Association (2024). Technology is changing the nursing industry. https://www.nursingworld.org/content-hub/resources/workplace/how-technology-is-changing-the-nursing-industry/
Bowker, D.M. & Kerkove, K.S. (2023) Social determinants of health in nursing education: Integrating into curriculum and practice. Iowa State University Digital Press, Ames IA. https://doi.org/10.31274/isudp.2023.147.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; National Academy of Medicine; Committee on the Future of Nursing 2020–2030. (2021). Flaubert, J.L., Le Menestrel, S., Williams, D.R., et al., editors. The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); Nurses Leading Change. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK573918/
Sensmeier, J. (2021). Realizing nurse-led innovation. Nursing Management (Springhouse) 52(6):p 14-19, DOI: 10.1097/01.NUMA.0000752772.58567.9b
