The Pew Commission Report: nursing's challenge to address it

The Pew Health Professions Commission was established in the Spring of 1989 and is administered by the University of California at San Francisco, Center for the Health Professionals. The Commission is charged with assisting health professionals, workforce policy makers, and educational institutions in responding to the challenges of the changing health care system. The Commission's work will identify and explore how regulations protect the public's health, and will propose a new approach to health professionals' licensure, certification, and regulations. In December 1995, the Commission released a full report, Reforming Health Care Workforce Regulation: Policy Considerations for the 21st Century, including 10 recommendations. These recommendations are found in Table 1. In her presentation made during ANNA's 28th National Symposium in Minneapolis on April 28, 1997, Barbara Donaho--a Commissioner on the Pew Health Professions Commission--challenged nephrology nurses to address issues brought up in the Commission Report. The fundamental concepts in Ms. Donaho's keynote presentation were: Articulate the issues that are critical to nurses' licensure as reform is considered. Describe public and professional forces of change if licensure is going to protect the public. Discuss the alternatives that may need to be considered when reform is undertaken by the states to ensure that professionals may practice nursing throughout the country without regulatory and licensing barriers. In this article, based on her ANNA keynote presentation, Ms. Donaho makes it clear that nursing's response to proposed health care reform must be aggressive and swift.