Future realities in nursing: Partnerships, practice, and economics

Health care reform, innovations in technology and the need to make health care cost-effective have affected ail aspects of health care practice and education. Critical thinking skills, interpersonal and communication skills, leadership and motivation skills, computer literacy, and cultural sensitivity are all capabilities nursing graduates must now possess ii they are to practice effectively in the complex and competitive contexts that today define the health care marketplace. Partnerships with community agencies are essential ii faculty are to prepare a new generation of nurses who will be proficient in the skills that 21(st)-century nursing practice will demand. Although academic institutions have made same changes to meet marketplace demands, nursing educators, practitioners, and researchers must thoroughly reconceptualize their philosophies and retool their curricula in response to these changes.