Faculty Member Selected to Join “Future of Nursing” Committee
Rosa Maria Gonzalez-Guarda, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.N., assistant professor, was
recently selected to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) Committee on the Future of Nursing, which
aims at finding solutions to the issues facing the profession as well as
ways to improve health care for all Americans.
Her role on the committee will be to study critical issues regarding
the nursing profession and health care in America and work with the
other committee members to develop unbiased and
evidence-informed recommendations that will
impact practice and policy.
“In doing so, we will be inviting experts to testify to the committee on various issues facing the profession (e.g. the nursing shortage), holding town hall meetings, evaluating research on models of nursing care, and listening closely to nurses and other leaders in public health and health care delivery,” says Gonzalez- Guarda, whose training across health disciplines has allowed her to develop a very comprehensive understanding of the health needs of the U.S. population.
There are various reasons why such an initiative is needed now, notes Gonzalez-Guarda. “We are definitely at an important and defining crossroad for health care… It is impossible to improve the system without addressing nursing, the largest segment of the health care workforce, and tapping into the leadership and expertise of nurses who are at forefront of health care delivery. Throughout this initiative we will be evaluating various models of nursing care and identifying which of these help ensure that nurses are providing high quality and safe care and being utilized to their greatest capacity.”
