Finkelman, A., & Kenner, C. (2007). Teaching IOM: Implications of the Institute of Medicine Reports for nursing education. Washington, DC: ANA.

This book and CD-ROM should be mandatory reading for anyone who is teaching nursing. The book clearly and concisely documents the impact and application of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) reports on healthcare. Results of the reports are summarized, and strategies for applying the results to nursing education are delineated in detail. Included in the appendices is an analysis of Suzanne Gordon's book Nursing against the odds (2005; Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press), including whether or not Gordon's findings accurately depict nursing and ideas about how the nursing profession and nurse educators should address Gordon's findings.

The book brings very helpful insights to how we can update the profession to meet the needs of healthcare today. For example, the authors address a recommendation by the IOM for healthcare professionals to be educated in informatics by suggesting that nursing students be educated about electronic medical record charting, coding, and the nomenclature and classification systems used in practice. Further, students should be taught to critically review research to see how well it supports practice and should analyze practice errors that hamper quality of care to learn about quality improvement.

The chapter "Using IOM reports in the classroom" includes learning objectives, teaching tips and techniques, issues for discussion, classroom activities, case studies, self-assessment tools, and critical thinking and test questions. There are suggestions for updating nursing curricula and for using the "Forces of Magnetism" (McClure & Hinshaw, 2002), such as the image of nursing, autonomy, professional development, and organizational structure, as a framework for nursing education.

While this book is clearly an excellent resource for schools of nursing, I think it will also be a valuable resource for facilities and agencies that employ nurses. The book shares an updated, forward-looking approach to the profession. I share its view that it is time we moved away from our traditional ways of doing things and advanced the profession as many of our colleagues in other healthcare disciplines have done.

Leslie Neal-Boylan, PhD, RN, CRRN, APRN-BC

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