Transforming nursing to improve healthcare quality: conversation w/ Dr Donna Shalala

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

from american nurse today:

issue date: january 2010 vol. 5 no. 1

transforming nursing to improve healthcare quality: a conversation with dr. donna shalala

the future of nursing, a 2-year initiative launched last year by the institute of medicine (iom) and the robert wood johnson foundation, seeks solutions to the challenges confronting nursing and ways to ensure nurses will play a central role in a reformed healthcare system. dr. donna shalala, phd, is chairing the committee of experts charged with identifying new approaches to care and solutions to long-standing problems, such as nurse recruitment, retention, and education. currently president of the university of miam

i, dr. shalala served 8 years as u.s. secretary of health and human services under president clinton.

the committee aims to find ways to meet the growing demand for nurses amid newly envisioned roles, new technology, and empowered teamwork. the initiative's expected outcome is a transformational report on the future of nursing--no small feat, especially as the sponsors hope the final report will be embraced by nurses, policy makers, state and local government leaders, professional societies, and the public.

american nurse today (amnt) editor-in-chief pamela cipriano and publisher greg osborne interviewed dr. shalala in philadelphia on december 3, 2009 as she prepared to chair the second national public forum on the future of nursing, which focused on community health, public health, primary care, and long-term care. an enthusiastic ally of nursing, dr. shalala has a passion for healthcare reform and a deep commitment to improving quality in our healthcare system. she has set the proper context--quality of care--and gathered influential leaders from within and outside the tent. dynamic yet pragmatic and intellectual, she is unafraid to ruffle feathers. in short, dr. shalala is a catalyst for the reinvention of nursing. ...

[PACNWNURSING]

They are many things that have to be addressed and fixed about the nursing profession. Transforming nursing has to start with me as an individual nurse. Nothing will change unless I start with myself and make positive changes. Relying on someone else to do it does not work.

[phosphorus]

I would be skeptical of anything Dr Shalala says about healthcare and nursing. She was the head of HHS under Clinton, and now runs UM. She is a big advocate of private-public partnerships that extract money from the tax payers and give to private companies profitting off America's working class. If we want to look to her vision of nursing, we should see how UM treats its nurses. I think that record alone (let alone her leadership in one of the most corrupt ruthless healthcare systems in the world) speaks to her ideas for nursing, more subjugation of healthcare workers to corporate, state, and management interests.