Explain How You See Yourself Fitting Into The Following IOM
Three recommendations and two job-market questions in 600 words. The writer is inside Recommendation 4, which is what makes this a reflection rather than a summary of a report.
Editorial process
Last reviewed · August 23, 2026
You are inside Recommendation 4, not describing it
The brief tells you the writer is an associate degree nurse completing a baccalaureate, and that single fact should shape every paragraph. Recommendation 4 is not something to summarise; you are the statistic it is about, and saying so directly is what makes this a reflection. The same applies to the other two with less immediacy: Recommendation 5 about doctoral preparation is a question about whether you intend to continue, and lifelong learning is the one that outlasts both degrees, so treat it as the recommendation with no completion date rather than the weakest of the three. Note also that the targets carried a 2020 deadline that has now passed, and a reflection that knows what actually happened to the eighty percent goal reads as informed rather than as a paraphrase of a report. Say what did happen, because a reflection that knows the outcome reads as informed rather than as a paraphrase.
The evidence for the first recommendation is worth getting right because it is the part most reflections handle loosely. The argument for baccalaureate preparation rests on studies associating a higher proportion of BSN-prepared nurses with lower surgical mortality and failure-to-rescue rates, and citing that literature is stronger than asserting that more education is better. Then answer the two job-market questions concretely rather than in aspirational language. Name the roles that open with a baccalaureate and are closed without one: magnet-designated hospitals that require it for new hires, public health nursing, case management, military nursing, and the graduate pathways that a BSN is the prerequisite for. For the future-role question, connect your degree to a specific contribution, whether that is leading a unit council, precepting, or entering a graduate programme, since a named next step answers the question and a statement about growth does not. Four scholarly references in six hundred words means roughly one per section, so choose them as you outline.
Likely learning objectives
- Position yourself inside a policy recommendation rather than describing it.
- Cite the outcome evidence for baccalaureate preparation accurately.
- Identify concrete roles that a degree opens or closes.
- State a specific next contribution rather than a general intention.
Assignment instructions
Read the full question
Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.
In a reflection of 450-600 words, explain how you see yourself fitting into the following IOM Future of Nursing recommendations: 1. Recommendation 4: Increase the proportion of nurses with a baccalaureate degree to 80% by 2020. 2. Recommendation 5: Double the number of nurses with a doctorate by 2020. 3. Recommendation 6: Ensure that nurses engage in lifelong learning. Identify your options in the job market based on your educational level. (I have Associate degree in nursing (ADN) and this a Bachelor science in nursing program, (BSN) so you can have based it on BSN, because I will be done soon) 1. How will increasing your level of education affect how you compete in the current job market? 2. How will increasing your level of education affect your role in the future of nursing? A minimum of Four scholarly references are required for this assignment. solid academic writing is expected, and in-text citations and references should be presented using APA documentation guidelines, an abstract is not required, CITE WEBSITE SOURCE.
Course-wide instructions that accompany this question
You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes. Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages. Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor. The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.A minimum of Four scholarly references are required for this assignment. solid academic writing is expected, and in-text citations and references should be presented using APA documentation guidelines, an abstract is not required, CITE WEBSITE SOURCE.
What this IOM reflection must contain
- 01A reflection of 450-600 words.
- 02An explanation of how you fit into each of the three named IOM recommendations.
- 03Your options in the job market based on your educational level.
- 04How increasing your education will affect how you compete in the current job market.
- 05How it will affect your role in the future of nursing.
- 06A minimum of four scholarly references in APA format.
Three recommendations, then the job market
Recommendation 4 and you
Locate yourself inside the baccalaureate target and cite its outcome rationale.
What the assessor is likely looking for
The writer placed inside the statistic.
Recommendation 5 and doctoral study
Address whether and how doctoral preparation figures in your plan.
What the assessor is likely looking for
A decision, with reasons, rather than a general openness.
Lifelong learning
Treat continuous learning as the recommendation with no endpoint.
What the assessor is likely looking for
Concrete mechanisms such as certification or journal club.
Your current options
State what your present qualification opens and closes in the job market.
What the assessor is likely looking for
Named roles and employer requirements.
How the degree changes competition
Identify what becomes available on completion and why employers require it.
What the assessor is likely looking for
Employer-side reasoning, including magnet requirements.
Your future role
Name the specific contribution the degree enables next.
What the assessor is likely looking for
A next step rather than a description of growth.
Where the Future of Nursing evidence sits
Recommended databases
- NCBI Bookshelf
- PubMed Central
- American Nurses Association
- CINAHL
Search sequence
- 1.Read the Future of Nursing report chapter on education before writing.
- 2.Search the BSN proportion and surgical mortality literature for the outcome claim.
- 3.Check the 2020-2030 follow-up report for what happened to the targets.
- 4.Look up magnet requirements for the job-market section.
Reference shortlist
These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.
The Future of Nursing
Institute of Medicine, NCBI Bookshelf · 2011
The original Future of Nursing report, the source of the three recommendations.
The Future of Nursing 2020-2030
National Academy of Medicine, National Academies Press (US) · 2021
The 2020-2030 follow-up, for what happened to the targets after the deadline.
The Nursing Workforce - The Future of Nursing 2020-2030
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, NCBI Bookshelf · 2021
The workforce chapter, for the job-market and education-level analysis.
SCOPE OF PRACTICE
Nursing Fundamentals, NCBI Bookshelf · 2023
Scope of practice, for what education level does and does not change legally.
Nurse staffing, burnout, and health care-associated infection
American Journal of Infection Control, 40(6), 486-490 · 2012
Staffing and outcomes evidence, for the argument that preparation affects patients.
Before you submit the reflection
Common mistakes
- Summarising the recommendations instead of locating yourself within them.
- Asserting that more education improves care without citing the outcome literature.
- Treating lifelong learning as filler after the two degree recommendations.
- Answering the job-market questions in aspirational rather than concrete terms.
- Ignoring that the 2020 targets have a date that has passed.
Submission checklist
- Have you stated your own position relative to Recommendation 4?
- Is the outcome evidence for BSN preparation cited?
- Are specific roles named for the job-market question?
- Does the future-role answer contain a named next step?
- Are there at least four scholarly references?
Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read Brinevia's academic-integrity policy.
Written by
Maren Caldwell
MSN, RN, CNE
Medical-surgical nursing, pharmacology and NCLEX preparation
Maren is a registered nurse with over 15 years of clinical and educational experience in medical-surgical nursing. She writes on NCLEX preparation, patient care fundamentals, pharmacology and evidence-based practice.
Reviewed by
Dr. Tessa Redmond
DNP, RN, CNE
Evidence-based practice and clinical education
Tessa is a doctorally-prepared nurse educator. She reviews Brinevia content for clinical accuracy and alignment with current evidence-based guidelines.