Cunningham and Henderson Appointed to Committee on Future of Nursing 2020-2030

Regina Cunningham, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, Chief Executive Officer of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP), GR’03, and Marcus Henderson, BSN, RN, Nu’17, GNu’20, have been appointed to the committee on the Future of Nursing 2020-2030.

In examining current and future challenges, the committee will consider:

• The role of nurses in improving the health of individuals, families, and communities by addressing social determinants of health and providing effective, efficient, equitable, and accessible care for all across the care continuum, as well as identifying the system facilitators and barriers to achieving this goal.
• The current and future deployment of all levels of nurses across the care continuum, including in collaborative practice models, to address the challenges of building a culture of health.
• System facilitators and barriers to achieving a workforce that is diverse, including gender, race, and ethnicity, across all levels of nursing education.
• The role of the nursing profession in assuring that the voice of individuals, families and communities are incorporated into design and operations of clinical and community health systems.
• The training and competency-development needed to prepare nurses, including advance practice nurses, to work outside of acute care settings and to lead efforts to build a culture of health and health equity, and the extent to which current curriculum meets these needs.
• The ability of nurses to serve as change agents in creating systems that bridge the delivery of health care and social needs care in the community. 
• The research needed to identify or develop effective nursing practices for eliminating gaps and disparities in health care.
• The importance of nurse well-being and resilience in ensuring the delivery of high-quality care and improving community health.

In developing its recommendations, the committee will draw from domestic and global examples of evidence-based models of care that address social determinants of health, resulting in a path for the nursing profession that will help our nation create a culture of health, reduce health disparities, and improve the health and well-being of the US population.

The study is sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. For a description of the study, the committee roster, contact information, updates, and more, visit: https://nam.edu/publications/the-future-of-nursing-2020-2030/.