Leadership initiatives to disseminate the institute of medicine's future of nursing report.

This article discusses the critical role professional nurses will play and the tremendous impact nursing education and leadership development will have on the future of health care, as outlined in the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine's report, "The future of nursing: Leading change, and advancing health." Six doctorate of nursing practice students from Case Western Reserve University analyzed the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report and developed projects to disseminate key components to selected organizations. The students developed two primary initiatives. One initiative involved presenting the report to various professional organizations, including a local chapter of an international honor society, a specialty organization, and a health care organization. The second initiative included interviewing several nurse leaders within a large multihospital health system, and a nursing leader in academia to determine (a) the level of awareness about the IOM report and (b) strategies these leaders have implemented or envisioned to address the report recommendations.