Change in the healthcare system is constant. Healthcare workers are sometimes not always flexible or ready for change. Before change is a success, healthcare organization has to consider the standards of practice and/or ethics to make change a success. When standards of practice and ethics are in doubt, change will not be successful.
“Standards of practice are guidelines used to determine what a nurse should or should not do” (Nursing Standards of Practice, 2016). It provides a guide to the knowledge, skills, judgment, and attitudes needed to practice safely. When change is implemented, healthcare workers are responsible for and accountable to every patient for the quality of care the patients receive.
International Council of Nurses’
Changes in the Health Care System and the Practice of Nursing have become complex. Technological changes, complicated client needs, short hospital length of stay, and departure from acute care to community based care, all these changes have underscore the need for professional nurses to think critically in order to provide safe and effective client care. A better educated nursing workforce can provide good health education to patients and their families. The affordable care of 2010 has required the need for nurses to expand their role of practice to meet complicated patient demands. This has prompted the Institute Of Medicine to review the “Future of Nursing, Leading change and Advancing Health”. {Creasia & Fribery,2011}
Decrease in funding is another economic challenge in health care. The amount of finances coming from various sources not just the
Implementing change among all organizations is necessary to achieve success; within the health care industry change is constant and it is the role of management teams to assess, plan, implement and evaluate change to ensure satisfaction. Considering this among the other aspects of running a successful organization it is essential to ensure that there is minimal resistance and familiarity to change. Demands of the consumers and staff as well as regulations are continuously changing. The responsibility of managers is to successfully lead these inevitable changes.
The CNO outlined professional standards for nurses to comply with. The seven that are outlined are accountability, continuing competence, ethics, knowledge, knowledge application, leadership, and relationships. “A standard is an authoritative statement that sets out the legal and professional basis of nursing practice” (College of Nurses of Ontario, 2009, p. 3). Although each standard has different meaning, they all work together in order to provide the best possible patient care.
1. Throughout history, a number of reformers have sought to improve the quality of medical care. What common thread connects them? Why did some fail? What were the successful able to see/do that others weren’t?
Over many years, the ideas of healthcare have been heavily debated in the United States. From early years dating back to the nineteenth century, people have been involved in some form of health insurance. They would have this “insurance” in case of some form of accident, so that they would not have many losses of income. According to Sultz and Young, “As early as the 19th century, some Americans carried insurance against sickness through an employer, fraternal order, guild, trade union, or commercial insurance company (2014)”. Healthcare has greatly changed since its first trial and error days. There have been new policies and pieces of legislation that have been passed in efforts to try and have all Americans covered with some form of health insurance. However, the newest form of healthcare out on the market is the idea of Concierge medicine.
The major current issue that could influence change in healthcare is the presidential election. The impact could last for the next decade or more. The US Healthcare had massive changes in healthcare with almost every newly elected president. The changes in the proposals by both the leading candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are distinct. With either of the candidates winning, ACA will undergo changes that could lead to the change of policies and regulations.
In chapter three of the Estes Healthcare policy, she explores the healthcare reforms now and in the future. Her analysis borrows from other studies that had been done to explore the implications of the healthcare reforms to all the stakeholders. The article explores the implications of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Medicaid and Children`s Health Insurance Program Provisions, and Community Living Assistance, Services and Support Act. The changes would have significant changes in the healthcare delivery systems. One of the implications of the changes would be decreased quality of healthcare.
One of the greatest changes in healthcare in the past ten years has been the rise of managed care, much to the displeasure of many patients and physicians alike. Managed care arose out of concern about spiraling healthcare costs and was designed to encourage physicians to give patients treatments that were cost-effective out of their own financial interests. "The consumer strategy was directed at imposing some barriers to use by levying various forms of co-insurance. The most common approaches used either deductibles (where the consumer paid the first portion of the bill a technique familiar in other types of insurance) or co-payments (where the consumer paid a portion of the bill and the insurance company the rest) or a combination of both' (Kane et al 1994). Managed care has given health insurance companies an increasingly significant voice in how treatment is administered and allocated. Managed care has proliferated in the past decade despite considerable criticism of the practice of 'nickel and diming' patients as well as the considerable bureaucratic red tape it is has generated. Also, research indicates that healthy, well-insured patients tend to over-consume care without meaningful co-pays but poorer, sicker patients can be deterred even by moderate co-payments and suffer negative health consequences (Kane et al 1994). However, managed care has not gone away and is a reality that all healthcare
The first characteristic of the US health care system is that there is no central governing agency which allows for little integration and coordination. While the government has a great influence on the health care system, the system is mostly controlled through private hands. The system is financed publically and privately creating a variety of payments and delivery unlike centrally controlled healthcare systems in other developed countries. The US system is more complex and less manageable than centrally controlled health care systems, which makes it more expensive. The second characteristic of the US health care system is that it is technology driven and focuses on acute care. With more usage of high technology,
The standards of practice describe a competent level of nursing care as exhibited by the critical thinking model known as the nursing process. This practice includes the areas of assessment, diagnosis, outcome identification, planning, implementation, and evaluation. The nursing process includes significant actions taken by registered nurses (RN) and forms the foundation of the nurse’s decision-making (“American Nurses Association,” 2010).
The American Nurses Association (ANA) established The Standards of Professional Nursing Practice (2010). The Standards of Professional Nursing Practice consists of Standards of Practice and Standards of Professional Performance. The standards serve as guidelines to define the profession of nursing and define the scope of practice for professional nurses. All standards presented in the The Standards of Professional Nursing Practice (2010) are essential for the nursing professional to function, legally, ethically and professionally in the healthcare organization.
Nursing standard of practice is important for safety of others because patients are relying on educated nurses who can protect them from other illness. Safety of medication is important for patients. Sometimes doctors can make a mistake! I remember one of my friend told me who is a nurse at Regions Hospital told me that one of the doctor prescribed “hydralazine” which is vasodilator to prevent a high blood pressure but the patient had an anxiety problem and was looking to get “hydroxyzine” which helps treat anxiety problem. The nurse know that so he mention and the doctor made some correction. Also, it is important to keep the nurses up to date with new technology and isolation protocol to help them understand what to do when someone have
With increasing health care regulations and the need for greater value in health care, we are starting to see several new trends in the industry. These trends will require health care organizations to become highly adaptable to the changing environment. Leaders in these organizations will also need to set the example of ethical behavior and also provide motivation so that their staff can be more supportive and better equipped to embrace change.
One thing that could drastically change healthcare would be how medical treatment is covered for cancer patients. Even with fairly decent insurance coverage, chemotherapy and other forms of treatment are outrageously priced. Often times families go into extreme debt due to a cancer diagnosis. This is not only the costs associated with treatment but the time off work due to recovering from the treatment, surgery, and other complications. My goal would be to come up with a way for families to not be burdened with the medical costs associated with a cancer diagnosis.