California was chosen as one of the first five states in the nation to form an Action Coalition with the express directive of implementing the recommendations included in the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) Initiative on the Future of Nursing (IFN). This report, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation which remains active in the implementation stage, outlines changes needed in practice, education, policy, data collection, and involvement at all levels of decision making related to nursing and health care. The interest in being part of this historic effort to improve nursing in California has been huge and is extremely gratifying to those leading the work in the state. Up until June 1, all work on the IFN in California was being done through volunteer hours and resources donated by academic institutions, non-profit organizations, and other stakeholder individuals and groups in the state. This was expecially true for the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at University of California Davis, and the California Institute for Nursing and Health Care. Deloras Jones, RN, MS with the Institute and Casey Shillam, PhD, RN-BC with the School of Nursing need to be credited with doing much of the heavy lifting as this Initiative got off the ground.
On June 1, a very welcome change occured with the hiring of Mary Dickow as the Program Director for the work of the IOM IFN California Action Coalition. Previously Mary was the Program Director for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Executive Nurse Leaders Fellow program housed at the University of California San Francisco. With Mary now in place in this important position, the work of the CA Action Coalition will likely accelerate which is very exciting!
I look forward to continuing to bring you information about how the IOM's recommendations for the Future of Nursing will be implemented in California and how they affect nurses and our communities...because, while the IOM report was national, to be successful the implementation must be regional and local in nature. Stay tuned as we journey into the future together!