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AACN STATEMENT DEFINES
VISION OF NURSING
HIGHER EDUCATION FOR NEXT DECADE
Schools Should Work with
Employers to Shape Practice,
Not Just Respond to Changes in Practice Settings, Association
Says
WASHINGTON,
D.C., February 24, 1998 -- Nursing school curricula must be
geared toward the changing demographics of the population,
new and expanding roles for nurses, and the escalating need
for interdisciplinary practice, says a new vision statement
by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN).
To
assure that nurses participate as full partners in health
care delivery and in shaping health policy, it is crucial
that nurses possess analytical and communication skills, and
"be prepared with the skills to negotiate the political
system and to remove artificial barriers that limit the profession's
ability to practice in the best interests of consumers,"
says the AACN statement, A Vision of Baccalaureate and
Graduate Nursing Education: The Next Decade. Accordingly,
nurses increasingly will be called upon to educate the public
and policymakers about nursing's central role within the overall
scheme of health care, of nurses' skills and scopes of practice,
and of the relationships between nursing care and positive
patient outcomes.
"This
landmark document describes the forces that are projected
to drive health care delivery in the near future and how bachelor's-
and graduate-degree nursing programs should be poised to address
them proactively within the next ten years. In particular,
the statement underscores how vitally important it will be
for nursing higher education to work with practice settings
to shape practice, not merely respond to changes in the practice
environment," says AACN President Carole A. Anderson,
PhD, RN, FAAN.
To
meet the demands of a progressively complex health system,
all baccalaureate and graduate nursing curricula should focus,
at appropriate levels, on preparing students in case management,
financial management, health care policy and economics, research
methodology, measurement of patient care outcomes, legislative
advocacy, and trends toward privatization, the AACN statement
urges. In addition, undergraduate and graduate instruction
should also emphasize management of data and technology, since
nurses "will be required not only to manage data, but
to have the ability to retrieve and interpret data to evaluate
nursing activities and interventions." Moreover, nurses'
knowledge "should be globalized with an awareness of
the scope of services of other health professions and of health
care advances in other nations," the AACN vision statement
recommends.
All
schools must also strive for ethnic and racial diversity among
students and faculty that more closely mirrors society, a
goal that will require "more aggressive and creative
recruitment and retention programs," the Association
says. Though representing nearly 25 percent of the population,
racial and ethnic minorities comprise only about 10 percent
of the nation's 2.5 million registered nurses.
The
vision statement cautions, however, that while curricula should
increasingly emphasize primary health care, patient education,
health promotion, rehabilitation, and alternative methods
of healing, such added concentration should not minimize nursing's
focus on other areas such as acute care and tertiary care.
While
the statement reiterates AACN's position that the Bachelor's
of Science degree in nursing (BSN) should be the minimum educational
requirement for professional nursing practice, it also urges
that BSN students should be prepared with skills in delegation
and in case and health system management, be provided with
learning and practice experiences in a diversity of settings,
and acquire skills in planning and integrating care for patients
as they, too, move across settings.
With
roles for advanced clinical nurses expanding rapidly, and
as demand for care increases across age groups and settings,
"the chief priority for master's curricula should be
the preparation of advanced practice nurses," who include
nurse practitioners, certified nurse-midwives, clinical nurse
specialists, and nurse anesthetists, the AACN vision statement
says. However, nursing schools should continue to offer specialization
for students who wish to pursue indirect care roles such as
management, administration, or informatics.
At
the doctoral level, educational programs should continue to
emphasize clinically relevant research that builds the science
for nursing practice, AACN says. Still, "doctoral programs
also have the responsibility to prepare future faculty by
providing frameworks and tools for moving to new methods and
models of education." Moreover, doctorally prepared faculty
will be called upon increasingly to base their teaching "in
the reality of active clinical practice," a development
that will likely see practice become as central to a faculty
member's role as teaching, research, and community service.
As such, "faculty should be afforded schedules that facilitate
practice time," the AACN statement urges.
In
addition, nursing has emerged from a period "characterized
by standard setting and a focus on regulation," the Association
points out. While these efforts have produced positive outcomes
for care delivery, "some freedom from the focus on regulation
is needed to allow for a climate of innovation" in this
period of dynamic change. "Nursing must encourage creativity
and risk-taking in order to develop the most cost-effective
models for the future," the AACN vision statement urges.
Single
copies of the AACN vision statement are available free from
AACN, 1 Dupont Circle, Suite 530, Washington, DC 20036; (202)
463-6930, or click here.
Please inquire for bulk rates.
The American Association of
Colleges of Nursing is the national voice for university and
four-year-college education programs in nursing. Representing
more than 580 member schools of nursing at public and private
institutions nationwide, AACN's educational, research, governmental
advocacy, data collection, publications, and other programs
work to establish quality standards for bachelor's- and graduate-degree
nursing education, assist deans and directors to implement
those standards, influence the nursing profession to improve
health care, and promote public support of baccalaureate and
graduate nursing education, research, and practice. Web site:
http://www.aacn.nche.edu.
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EDITORS: News media can
obtain a copy of the AACN vision statement by clicking here.
CONTACT:
Robert Rosseter
(202) 463-6930, x231
rrosseter@aacn.nche.edu
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