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Dimensions of Professional Nursing Practice
The Future of Nursing Assignment Guidelines and Grading Rubric
Purpose:
Over the course of the past four weeks, we have touched on the history of nursing, and described the changes in health systems as a result of health reform legislation. The field of nursing is not immune to the impact of health care reform, changing population demographics, and the vast changes in information technology, volatile economics and social networking. Within the past decade, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) assessed the nursing profession and made recommendations for sweeping advancements in the profession to keep up with the rapidly evolving health care system.
This assignment will give students the opportunity to explore the IOM recommendations in more detail, including the research that supports the recommendation, and assess the progress made in achieving these goals. The assignment includes a short paper (2-3 pages) submitted to an assignment box (worth 15% of grade.
Content Outline:
1. IOM Recommendation
a. Present a description of IOM Recommendation
b. Describe the justification for this recommendation (why it is important, citing the research that supports the recommendation).
2. Summary of current, related research
a. Summarize two recent (within 5 years) peer-reviewed research journal articles that focus on a concept or circumstance related to the recommendation (or topic area).
i. Identify the definition of the concept/circumstance studied in the research article.
ii. Identify the setting in which the concept/circumstance was studied.
iii. Describe the study findings related to the concept/circumstance.
3. Progress in achieving IOM goal
a. Present the current status of progress in achieving the recommendation. Provide data for state and/or region. Include graphs or tables if available for the data.
b. Present at least two examples of innovative programs or initiatives that have led to progress in achieving the recommendation.
c. Present the role of the professional nurse in achieving this recommendation. What action can nurses do to shape the future of nursing?
4. APA and scholarly writing
a. Submit a minimum of 5 references – no more than 2 textbooks.

Format: Students will prepare a short paper (2-3 pages), applying APA format and style.
Resources:
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation website has excellent resources to support your success on this assignment, including research articles, data reports, and updates on innovative projects and action coalition efforts to achieve the recommendations. Website: http://thefutureofnursing.org. Here you can find the recommendation summary, research and data by topic (Practice, Education, Leadership, and Workforce), Success Stories and Campaign for Action.

Database searches using PubMed, CINAHL, and/or Joanna Briggs using key words from your recommendation will also be an excellent resource for the research articles required for this assignment. The RWJF site also lists articles/current research, which can then be accessed via SCF Library databases (if not open access).