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Donna Shalala, PhD, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) chair for the Committee on the Future of Nursing and secretary for the U.S. Health and Human Services Department under President Bill Clinton, realized the importance of nurses being represented at leadership tables in 2009, after listening to testimony on Capitol Hill on health reform. While several physicians, an attorney, a pharmaceutical representative, and one or two policymakers testified on how to improve patient care in our country, Shalala noted the absence of a nurse. She told me afterward, “I couldn't believe no nurse testified—that needs to change.”
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Shalala sought to alter the dearth of nurses participating in leadership discussions with the IOM Committee's release of the landmark report The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health. The report specifically called for nurses to take on increased leadership roles—including board service—to help improve America's health and health care systems:
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By virtue of its numbers and adaptive capacity, the nursing profession has the potential to effect wide-reaching changes in the health care system. Nurses’ regular, close proximity to patients and scientific understanding of care processes across the continuum of care give them a unique ability to act as partners with other health professionals and to lead in the improvement and redesign of the health care system and its many practice environments (Institute of Medicine, 2011, p. 3).
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In the years since the report's release, the nursing community has galvanized around implementing the IOM report recommendations, including placing more nurses on boards. The need is great: The American Hospital Association (2014) reports that only 5% of hospital board seats are occupied by nurses, despite nurses’ expertise on the patient experience, quality and safety, and customer satisfaction in healthcare delivery and performance (Hassmiller & Combes, 2012). In contrast, physicians occupied 20% of board positions (AHA, 2014).
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In 2014, 19 leading nursing organizations joined with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and AARP to form the Nurses on Boards Coalition. The group seeks to place 10,000 nurses on corporate and nonprofit health-related boards by 2020. The effort is part of a broader movement by the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, a nationwide initiative led by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and AARP to improve health through nursing. The campaign works at both the national level and in the states, engaging with consumers, nurses, other clinicians, insurers, health care systems, employers, educators, funders, and policymakers—all the stakeholders who need to be involved in system change—to advance the IOM's recommendations.
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The Campaign for Action seeks to fulfill Connie Curran's lifelong goal of placing more qualified nurses on boards. It also offers a fertile place for nurses at all levels to further their leadership skills and expertise. To get involved, go to www.campaignforaction.org and click on your state. Join us to promote nursing leadership and help us to place 10,000 nurses on boards by 2020.
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-Susan B. Hassmilller, PhD, RN, FAAN