Objectives for the Nation: a national agenda for nursing education, research, and practice

Nursing has tremendous potential to contribute to the nation's health agenda. Its ability to do so requires, first, a clear and widespread knowledge and understanding of, and commitment to, the blueprint provided through the objectives for the nation. It also requires initiative and activism on the part of nursing leaders at all levels of practice, education and research to make the changes in nursing necessary for realization of this potential. To accomplish this, nurses and others must enter into a process of assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation and evaluation, in which the framework given in Objectives for the Nation is used as a guiding force and point of orientation. The result of this process should be a practical, achievable national agenda that will allow nursing to effectively and efficiently play its crucial role in meeting the health goals of the nation.