Future realities in nursing: Partnerships, practice, and economics

Health care reform, innovations in technology and the need to make health c are cost-effective have affected ail aspects of health care practice and ed ucation. Critical thinking skills, interpersonal and communication skills, leadership and motivation skills, computer literacy, and cultural sensitivi ty are all capabilities nursing graduates must now possess ii they are to p ractice effectively in the complex and competitive contexts that today defi ne the health care marketplace. Partnerships with community agencies are es sential ii faculty are to prepare a new generation of nurses who will be pr oficient in the skills that 21(st)-century nursing practice will demand. Al though academic institutions have made same changes to meet marketplace dem ands, nursing educators, practitioners, and researchers must thoroughly rec onceptualize their philosophies and retool their curricula in response to t hese changes.