Health literacy has been receiving increased attention as a critical component for managing personal health. Recognition of the pervasiveness of functional illiteracy, along with studies highlighting how illiteracy negatively impacts health, make health literacy a central health issue for our times. Health providers and health care systems are called upon to increase their awareness of the literacy competencies of their patients and to take action to provide more meaningful interaction and information to overcome patient limitations. This column will highlight the issues surrounding health literacy and recent initiatives to address the problem.

health literacy --- literacy --- health information literacy --- readability

The complexity of the issues that make up the digital divide problem is better understood today. It is no longer sufficient to see it simply as a disparity of access to computer technology. Rather, there is recognition that having meaningful support for using the technology is also an essential ingredient for getting online. The digital divide is a global problem, but even in the technology rich United States the situation is troubling. Recent studies have shown that within the United States, public libraries play a key role in helping the digitally disadvantaged get connected to the Internet and learn how to use it to serve their needs. As more individuals are connected online, those who are not, however, are increasingly in danger for becoming more marginalized within society. Health care professionals need to be aware that they may well be working with individuals who are increasingly outside of the mainstream of the digital revolution and who cannot take advantage of Internet resources that could positively impact their health.

digital divide --- information inequality --- Internet access

This article provides an historical overview of the three major ways that nursing regulates the profession, its members, and their performance, i.e., licensure, certification, and accreditation. Each type of regulation mechanism is described and differences between them are explained. Current issues related to accreditation of schools of nursing are outlined.

Accreditation --- Certification --- American Association of Critical Care Nurses --- Education Nursing --- JCAHO --- Licensure Nursing --- NLN --- Nursing as a Profession --- Practical Nurses --- RN's Schools --- Nursing United States

In 2001, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation commissioned a study on the nursing shortage in the United States to gain a better understanding of the drivers and inform the Foundation's response. This article discusses the impetus for, and a brief summary of, the resulting report, Health Care's Human Crisis: The American Nursing Shortage, published by the Foundation in 2002. It examines the historical, social, cultural, and economic factors that drive the nursing shortage. A new framework, namely a continuum of responses, is offered for understanding the myriad activities being undertaken in response to the problem, pointing the way to long-term, sustainable solutions. Recommendations and implications for nursing leaders are discussed.

nursing --- shortage --- profession --- workforce

Nursing faces yet another divergence between demand and supply that is evidenced in insufficient nurse staffing with significant implications for patient safety. Many believe this shortage of registered nurses is entrenched in long-standing problems related to the value and image of nursing and the limited role nursing has had in identifying priorities within health care delivery systems. Nursing's Agenda for the Future is a plan resulting from the experience and wisdom of a broad representation of general nursing and nursing specialty organizations. Efforts to realize the priorities and objectives have evolved over the past two years in order to make larger strides, or quantum leaps, toward reaching the objectives contained within the plan. This article reviews the activities leading up to the development of this plan, presents the key areas of concern addressed in this plan, describes what has been accomplished since the publication of this plan in 2002, and outlines the work that lies ahead to bring to fruition the objectives the plan established.

nurse staffing --- nursing shortage --- patient safety --- nursing value --- nursing image --- economic value --- and strategic plan