Finkelman, A., & Kenner, C. (2009). Teaching IOM (2nd ed.). Silver Spring, MD: American Nurses Association. 272 pages. Visit the Nursing World website for more information:http://nursingworld.org/books/

This second edition provides additional examples and strategies for teaching and learning from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) reports. This 272-page book is divided into four main sections plus a section for references and appendices. The first section provides an overview of the IOM reports that are relevant to nursing and discusses the implications for patient care. The section sets a tone for a nonpunitive approach to acknowledging and preventing future medical and nursing errors. Instead, the authors suggest that we continue to redefine quality and they offer suggestions about how to improve healthcare. The second section explores the changes that have been made in nursing education because of the IOM reports and analyzes whether nurse educators are teaching what they should be and in the right way. I found this section interesting as it advocates increased interdisciplinary collaboration from within and outside of healthcare and the use of case-based, holistic, and culturally competent methods to teach students. The section discusses how the Clinical Nurse Leader role and the Doctorate of Nursing Practice evolved from the IOM findings and how they might resolve some of the issues described in the IOM reports. The book, overall, recommends that nursing faculty be clinically active, asserting that nursing is a practice profession and should therefore be taught by people who are actually in practice and current in clinical knowledge.

Section three describes how to integrate the IOM findings on safety and quality into nursing education. This is explored in detail and includes commentary about several subject areas taught in nursing programs. Additional specifics on using the IOM reports in the classroom, including how to best use the CD-ROM that accompanies the book are discussed in section four. The CD ROM includes power point presentations, teaching tips and activities that can be used in the classroom. Finally, the Appendices include a curricular framework for population health, recommendations from specific IOM reports, and a commentary on Suzanne Gordon's recent book on the state of nursing in the United States. This book is excellent and should be required reading for all faculty at all levels of nursing education. While reading it, I felt affirmed in so many of my own beliefs in how nursing education should be and it was gratifying to see that the IOM report findings support making changes. I think that most nursing faculty will agree that the book has a lot to offer in the way of concrete and pragmatic suggestions for how to apply the IOM findings in the classroom and also how to strengthen nursing faculty to produce a stronger, better prepared nursing professional.

- Contributed by Leslie Neal-Boylan, PHD, RN, CRRN, APRN-BC