Registered Nurses as Professionals, Advocates, Innovators, and Collaborative Leaders: Executive Summary.

This article concludes a series that described work completed by the American Nurses Association (ANA) Barriers to RN Scope of Practice Professional Issues Panel (Panel). The Panel has summarized the roles of the registered nurse (RN) as professional, advocate, innovator, and collaborative leader. As professionals, RNs are accountable for their own educational development, growth of their own practice, and execution of their own professional role.

Registered Nurses Leading Innovative Changes.

As innovators, all registered nurses (RNs) act as agents of change to drive processes and policy and leverage technology to prove better, more affordable care for individuals and the community. The authors consider examples of RNs leading innovative ideas and practices to create new knowledge; develop healthcare policies and practices; improve the quality of care; and advance health information technology. This article describes a number of key innovation goals identified by the American Nurses Association Professional Issues Panel, Barriers to RN Scope of Practice, discusses relevant literature related to overcoming barriers to innovation, and identifies recommendations for leading innovative change to achieve innovation goals.

Registered Nurses as Caregivers: Influencing the System as Patient Advocates.

Registered Nurses (RNs) influence the health of individual patients and populations. RNs provide the most value for the healthcare system when they work collaboratively with other healthcare team members, work to their full scope of practice, and when they are engaged and accountable. In 2011, the Institute of Medicine report on the future of nursing made the call to achieve the full value of nursing care.