The IOM Report on the Future of Nursing: What Perioperative Nurses Need to Know

The 2010 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, continues to be the most-viewed report in IOM history. Nearly three years after its publication, there are action coalitions of nursing and non-nursing agencies in 50 states and the District of Columbia collaborating to move the eight recommendations for action forward. There is much work to do to reshape health care delivery in the United States, and the IOM has identified nurses as key leaders in driving the reform. Every nurse must be educated on the key messages of the IOM report and become involved in moving these recommendations forward as well as in educating others on what needs to be done. AORN and perioperative nurses have a key role in voicing the unique needs of perioperative patients and in ensuring that perioperative patient care is represented in reform activities.