America is struggling to move its health-care system from a medical orientation to a health orientation. And it will change the very nature of health-care jobs during the next century.
That was the message Stephanie L. Ferguson, a registered nurse and associate professor in the Division of Nursing at Howard University in Washington, D.C., gave to nearly 2,000 student nurses gathered this week in Salt Lake City for their annual convention.The National Student Nurses' Association held business meetings, informational workshops, keynote addresses and more during the conference, April 12-16.
"We are moving from acute, episodic care settings to more longitudinal and chronic care settings, from inpatient to outpatient care, from illness to wellness, fee-for-services to capitation, paper-based to computer-based and individual care to more population-based care. Indeed, we are transforming the way we deliver care constantly."
How health care is defined isn't the only change, either, she said. Hospital settings are rife with mergers and acquisitions, new models for managed care and tougher standards and expectations.
But while nurses never have been more needed or integral to the health-care system, enrollments at nursing schools are plunging and the aging of the nursing work force (now 44 years old, on average, for registered nurses) seems to portend "a significant nursing shortage," she said.
Another change is the population that will be served in the future. The world population now hovers above 6 billion. By 2020, it will be close to 8 billion. In the United States, the population is changing, becoming more culturally and ethnically diverse. Diversity in nursing also will be critical when that happens.
"Nurses need to develop and maintain values and skills needed to ensure culturally competent health-care services," said Ferguson. "We also need to recruit and retain culturally and ethnically diverse populations into the profession."
Ferguson told the young nurses-to-be that they must be willing to learn and work hard, perhaps with a mentor. They have to be able to "think out of the box" and take risks, too, she said.
Despite challenges, Ferguson told the student nurses they can rest assured there will be jobs for them. "Demand for nurses continues to climb and that isn't likely to change," she said.