1

Professional Meeting Paper: The Future of Nursing and Our Potential Legacy

Lydia Burgess

Bon Secours College of Nursing

NUR 3142 Leadership and Business of Healthcare

Professor Gerald Grass

28 April 2023
 2

Professional Meeting Paper: The Future of Nursing and Our Potential Legacy

The meeting that was attended was, “Step Forward to 2030, turning the future of nursing

report into action,” held by Chamberlain University, that featured President Dr. Karen Cox, and

Dr. Susan Hassmiller, to discuss recommendations for reports in nursing and how that could

affect nursing in the future all the way to 2030, which is surprisingly not that far off in our

present timeline. Chamberlain University took it upon themselves to make a report for 2020-

2030 to structure a report that will outline the values and goals of the nursing profession. They

mentioned how the 2010-2020 report had outlined what nursing was, and the goal of the 2020-

2030 report was what the nursing role could be in healthcare equity and education. The goal of

the committee from Chamberlain University was to help structure the nurse’s role in recognizing

social determinants of health and the unconscious bias of employees and employers. Their goal

was to offer a more equal opportunity for nurses and offer a more equal opportunity of care for

their patients.

The meeting proposed a social justice standpoint of nursing care and addressed how

healthcare workers can be the forefront for that change and societal reality. Additionally, the

meeting shared a blueprint of how nursing professionals could implement a new way of thinking

and promote equity in their practice. Their four main content areas included bridging the gap so

that educationally and professionally practice wise the practice barriers could be permanently

removed in nursing, to value nurses’ contributions to health care systems, to prepare nurses to

fight for health equity and be properly educated, and to fully support nurses financially and

educationally (Chamberlain University, 23:33, 2021). This paper will address leadership in

healthcare, business of healthcare (whether it is a caring model or business model of patient

 3

care), advocacy on the field, quality, and safety of nursing practice, and what those topics should

look like in the present and the future.

Leadership

In the healthcare system, in hospitals or private practices, the example of leadership and

teamwork must come from the top tier of management, down to the last staffing position. There

are so many examples of units that have failed in patient care and treatment of others. However,

if you look at the structure of leadership from the supervisor and the teamwork, it makes sense as

to how the structure of the unit has failed. The committee’s vision regarding leadership was to

provide a framework to motivate a more diverse, strength in leadership so that the healthcare

system will be supported by numbers of people, and a more experienced staff (Chamberlain

University, 17:49, 2021). Leadership comes from good communication and a personal approach

to coworkers and patients.

The leadership module in week 4, explained that assertive communication is direct and

honest, expresses feelings without being overbearing, and does not always get their way (Module

1, Week 4). This example of assertive communication can promote the committee’s model to

help build a stronger and diverse nursing role model. If nurses can assertively communicate, this

will promote a more diverse and self-aware nurses’ role. The ANA Standards of Practice that is

related to assertive communication is Outcomes Identification, Planning, and Implementation

(American Nurses Association, 2015). Assertive communication and being more self-aware

when it comes to equity in the workplace will support and provide better outcome identification,

planning, and implementation in the aspect of leadership. It is important to remember that

regarding leadership in the nurse’s role, it is each nurse’s responsibility to act, have assertive

communication, and be open to diversity in their day-to-day work life.

 4

Business of Healthcare

The committee talked about how payment systems do not explicitly value nurses care

contribution and how the present healthcare system does not support health promotion and

proper prevention opportunities for patient populations within the local communities

(Chamberlain University, 2021). The healthcare systems have progressively gotten worse after

COVID-19 and the healthcare system took advantage of a horrible situation and used it for

financial gain. This made it so that payment plans, and insurance companies were overwhelmed

and unable to manage the bills that were being processed by the hospitals. Because of this

motivation from healthcare systems since COVID-19, it has influenced more of a model of

providers treating patients like dollar signs versus real people.

In the course’s content in Module 2 and Week 6, the course talks about how the

healthcare system provides care to patients and how costs of healthcare effects the patient care

experience. This ties into what the Committee was focusing on about how the nurse’s role needs

to change their perspective and think and act outside of the model given to them as an example to

follow. The ANA Standards of Practice that is an example of what has been said about the

business structure of healthcare is the following, Quality Practice and Professional Practice

Evaluation (American Nurses Association, 2015). Both these standards of practice can support

the nurse’s role in developing change in the business of healthcare example being given by

healthcare systems and supporting proper patient care. This means including in the nursing role

providing opportunities for education and promoting primary and secondary prevention

techniques.

Advocacy
The Chamberlain University proposes a plan for nurse’s role to take responsibility for

their own part in the lack of equity regarding race and social inequality in the healthcare system.
 5

They also initiate a nursing role change that includes a more inclusive unit dynamic, promotes a

diversity of staffing, and providing equal education for staffing (Chamberlain University, 31:47,

2021). This will be important for the next ten years to initiate change in each nurse’s unit and

then make a more systematic change over time.

In the courses content, in Module 4 and week 14, it talks about the role of nurses and

their position in advocacy in the healthcare system. It emphasizes that nurses need to include

themselves in the political aspect of patient advocacy and be involved in the management of the

unit and teamwork. It is crucial that nurses include themselves in their patient care and in their

fellow staff equality. It takes one staff member to start making a change in the system for more

equity in the healthcare system. The ANA Standards of Practice that supports advocacy and

change in the workplace and nurse’s role is Resource Utilization and Environmental Health

(American Nurses Association, 2015). These two practices support the individualization of

nurse’s role in patient care and the importance of each nurse taking responsibility for their

actions and trying to advocate for change in their own practice.

Quality and Safety

In the middle of COVID-19, the healthcare system was struggling so much with retaining

staff, that the priority of making sure that nurses had enough qualified clinical hours and other

check offs of skills went unnoticed and unreported (Chamberlain University, 43:34, 2021). With

that, there was a safety issue in the nursing education safety and quality of patient care. That

being said, the committee presented that there needs to be a supportive atmosphere of nurses that

are coming up in the ranks of graduating in a post COVID-19 era of healthcare.

In the course’s content in Module 3 of Week 9, there was a portion of material that talks

about the quality of past nursing initiatives past and present. There was an emphasis on the fact
 6

that past quality initiatives are important, but also it is important to improve quality as the

healthcare system has looked different since COVID-19. There is a level of quality that is trying

to be implemented, now, as hospitals are realizing their shortcomings and trying to improve the

patient safety, safety in patient staffing, and safety regarding nursing education. The ANA

Standards of Practice that are important to remember in reference to what was said previously

are Education, Leadership, and Quality of Practice (American Standards of Practice, 2015). All

three of these are important when regarding improving the nurse’s role in quality and safety in a

post-COVID-19 nursing era.

Reflection

I enjoyed the meeting that I was able to watch that was published from Chamberlain

University. It highlighted important qualities and proposed things that from a nurse’s role I can

take into my workplace and my own individual nursing care. One of the main takeaways that

stood out to me was the emphasis on the individuality of patient care and the responsibility of

each nurse’s role in providing equity in the workplace. The other thing that I will take away is the

importance of continued education in the nursing role. It is so important to stay up to date with

treatments, pharmacologically, and continue learning about safety regarding patient care and

nursing treatment. The last thing that I will take into my nursing practice is that I am my patient’s

biggest advocate. Additionally, as a nurse, I must take responsibility and advocate for equity for

fellow coworkers, patients, and for myself. That meeting will be one that I reflect on as I go

further into my professional nursing career.

Conclusion

The Chamberlain University committee presented this meeting to help promote the

nursing role in the healthcare system. They did a good job at presenting how the nurse’s role has
 7

been and is so critical for healthcare systems to thrive and survive. However, they also presented

how things need to change and move forward in the next ten years. The committee presented that

leadership in nursing and healthcare systems need to have a priority of equity in the workplace,

better staffing priorities, and nurse’s being responsible for their own example of leadership. The

committee presented that healthcare systems have prioritized the patient dollar signs versus the

importance of presenting healthy, primary prevention to the local communities. It was clear that

it is the nurse’s role and responsibility now to try and change the way the system views patients

and does not promote a community’s holistic health. The committee presented the importance of

advocacy and the reality that each nurse is their own advocate for their patient’s and in their

workplace. Lastly, the committee promoted a new level of quality and safety in a post-COVID-

19 era of healthcare. There is a reality that in the short staff and nation’s state of survival, that the

quality and safety of nursing practice and patient care got laid to the sideline. That being said, it

is the present nurses and nursing graduates’ responsibility to hold themselves to a higher level of

care so that the next ten years of healthcare can be better than the last ten.
 8

References

American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (n.d.). Domain 5: Quality and Safety. American

Association of Colleges of Nursing: The Voice of Academic Nursing. Retrieved April 27,

2023, from https://www.aacnnursing.org/Essentials/Domains/Quality-and-Safety.

American Nurses Association. (2023, February 23). Leadership in nursing: Qualities & why it

matters. ANA. Retrieved April 27, 2023, from https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-

policy/nursing-excellence/leadership-in-nursing/.

Chamberlain University. (2021). YouTube. Retrieved April 27, 2023, from

https://youtu.be/LFPIDK0ahB4.

Natashia Josephine Scully, Leadership in nursing: The importance of recognizing inherent values

and attributes to secure a positive future for the profession, Collegian, Volume 22, Issue 4,

2015, Pages 439-444, ISSN 1322-7696, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colegn.2014.09.004

(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1322769614000869).

The American Nurses Association (ANA) is a national professional ... (2015, July). Retrieved

April 27, 2023, from https://www.nursingworld.org/~4af71a/globalassets/catalog/book-

toc/nssp3e-sample-chapter.pdf.