Creating the future. Nurses can shape their profession by getting involved in healthcare reform

To remain relevant in a reformed healthcare system, nurses will have to redefine and remake themselves. Three aspects of the new healthcare age--megahospitals, managed care, and redefined professional roles--will have a significant impact on healthcare professions, including nursing. Across the United States hospitals are merging to form sophisticated networks that provide a continuum of care. Under this delivery model, nurses will play a variety of new roles and work collaboratively with the entire spectrum of health social service professionals. A related development--the growth of managed care--is an increasingly attractive option among large employers. It will also accelerate changes in the way healthcare professionals work. Managed care will force physicians to enter into appropriate group affiliations and hospitals to reconfigure themselves to meet the needs of a dynamic system that no longer requires yesterday's beds or management structures. The future will force healthcare professionals to go through regular, radical changes in their job requirements. But it will also allow nurses and others to emerge from their task-oriented past and take on work that requires them to think, judge, and intervene.