It's a matter of trust: Nurses supporting family caregivers

Abstract

With enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the U.S. health care system is undergoing its most dramatic overhaul since passage of Medicare in 1965. Written in the ACA are explicit guidelines for health insurance coverage, guaranteed health care choices, and enhanced health care quality for all Americans. These important systemic changes are at the tail of the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) The Future of Nursing report and its bold endorsement of expanded nurse education and practice capacity. 1 Taken together, it seems safe to say that nurses can and must play a vital role in shaping the future health of the American public. This is no more important than when considering the health needs of older adults, whose proportion of the U.S. population and use of more complex and intensive health care services has increased significantly since the implementation of Medicare. Nurses, no longer viewed as “physician’s hands” completing doctor’s orders, 2 have evolved into