MSU professor appointed to prominent national committee charting a path for nursing profession

A Montana State University professor has been named to a prominent national committee that is working to chart a path for the nursing profession through 2030.

Peter Buerhaus, professor in the College of Nursing and director of the MSU Center for Interdisciplinary Health Workforce Studies, is one of 15 individuals appointed to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Committee on the Future of Nursing 2020-2030.

The committee has been tasked by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to extend the vision for the nursing profession to help the U.S. create a culture of health, reduce health disparities and improve the health and well-being of the U.S. population in the 21st century. The committee will examine lessons learned from a previous Institute of Medicine report that made recommendations about the nursing profession, as well as the current state of science and technology, to inform its assessment of the capacity of the profession to meet the anticipated health and social care demands from 2020 to 2030.

“It is an exciting and humbling opportunity to serve on the committee,” Buerhaus said. “The National Academy of Medicine focuses on bringing the highest level of science and evidence to address important societal issues and influence public policy. I am looking forward to working with national experts from many different disciplines and professions to enhance the nursing profession’s capacity to improve human health.”

In 2009, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation partnered with the Institute of Medicine – now called the National Academy of Medicine – to produce “The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health,” a report which set a vision for nursing in 2020. The committee examined how nurses’ roles, responsibilities and education should change to meet the needs of an aging, increasingly diverse population and to respond to a complex, evolving health care system.

The report’s recommendations focus on the intersection between the health needs of patients throughout their lives and the readiness of the nursing workforce. The recommendations were written to support efforts to improve health care for all Americans by enhancing nurses’ contributions to the delivery of care.

In a press release announcing the Committee on the Future of Nursing, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine said a variety of current and emerging issues will influence nursing and merit consideration in setting national priorities for the next 10 years. Those issues include ongoing health care reform, the integration of new technologies, patient-centered care, and respect for the profession and its expertise.

The nursing profession is the largest segment of the nation’s health care workforce, and nurses play a vital role in the health care system, according to Sarah Shannon, dean of the MSU College of Nursing. However, a number of barriers have prevented nurses from being able to respond effectively to rapidly changing health care settings and an evolving health care system, she said, and these barriers need to be overcome to ensure that nurses are well positioned to lead change and advance health for the citizens of Montana and across the U.S. and globally.

She added that Buerhaus is extraordinarily well qualified to address those challenges and to provide important contributions to the Committee on the Future of Nursing.

“The 2010 Future of Nursing report changed the landscape of nursing education and practice. This next report will do no less,” Shannon said. “Few sectors of our economy are changing as rapidly – or are challenged as profoundly by external pressures – as health care. Dr. Buerhaus is the leading national expert on the health care workforce. We are grateful for his representation on this visionary committee.” 

In addition to his appointment to the Committee on the Future of Nursing, in April Buerhaus was inducted into the Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars. The society honors individuals who completed their graduate, postdoctoral, professional or performance training at Johns Hopkins but are not currently affiliated with that university, and who have achieved marked professional or scholarly distinction in their fields.

“This honor goes beyond recognizing Dr. Buerhaus’ contributions to the profession of nursing,” Shannon said. “Adding to his other national awards, this most recent appointment recognizes Dr. Buerhaus’ extensive contributions as a health care economist. Montana State University and the College of Nursing are lucky to count Peter Buerhaus as a colleague.”

A nurse and a health care economist, Buerhaus is known for his studies and publications focused on the nursing and physician workforces in the U.S. Before coming to MSU, he was the Valere Potter Distinguished Professor of Nursing and professor of health policy at Vanderbilt University and assistant professor of health policy and management at the Harvard School of Public Health. In 2003, Buerhaus was elected into the National Academies’ Institute of Medicine.

Buerhaus maintains an active research program involving studies on the economics of the nursing workforce, forecasting nurse and physician supply, developing and testing measures of hospital quality of care, determining public and provider opinions on issues involving the delivery of health care and assessing the quantity and quality of health care provided by nurse practitioners and physicians.