Health Care and Politics are rapidly developing and changing. Beginning with the political side and policy making, there are a series of steps that must take place before any changes can be made. Policy modifications result from existing policies that need changing. According to Longest, policy modification is when the consequences of existing policies feed back into the agenda setting and legislation development stages of the formulation phase and into the rule making and operational stages of the implementation phase and stimulate changes in legislation, rules, or operations. Policy analysis plays an important role in the modification process because it can provide the opportunity to make appropriate alterations to policies. There are multiple …show more content…
More specifically in my mind, I believe the nurses have to adapt to these changes more quickly than other medical employees. Nurses occupy a unique and powerful position in our health care system. They spend more time with patients than anyone else the majority of the time. They are often the first to know when our health care system does not meet patient needs, and they have a deep understanding of its overall failures. Therefore, they have to make sure they are educated on the changes that have been made so they are able to present the patient with the correct information regarding their …show more content…
As a health care team member who has direct access to patients on the daily bases who better to be a part of the policy making process. Nurses can not only be a voice for themselves to make their job run smoother but they can also be a voice for the patients to help them receive the care they deserve. If nurses fail to take part in this process others will make decisions that affect their practice without any of their input and they will continue to be forced to adapt to the changes that could have negative effects on themselves and their patients. Continuing to increase the number of nurses who are politically intelligent and active will help achieve the desired goal. One effective way to accomplish this is to continuously educate all staff nurses for this vital role. Another way is to pay attention to legislation that is introduced and by contacting elected representatives to voice opinions on your behalf, whether they are positive or negative. Technology makes this process convenient through the use of the Internet and E-mail. In the past the common thought among the nursing community is that there was nothing in their power that they could do as health personnel to change or influence the policies that were being implemented in their hospitals and clinics. I
Nurses have been successful advocates for improvement of the individuals, communities and indeed Nations. However much more work needs to be done to reduce health disparities, improvement of quality and safety in the health system. As well as improve access to care and formulate policies in organization that focus on the need of patients. In my opinion, nurses sometimes believe in a common mistake that nurses lack the power to be effective in the legislative arena. However, I just want to emphasize that nurses are the largest group of health care providers, and we can generate enough power to successfully reform the health care system based on numbers
When contemplating health care policy changes, several economic issues in health care must be considered. These include the financial issues affecting the health sector and have an impact on health policies. Policy makers face unending challenges due to the health sector revenues that are always rising. Another challenge is decreased funding and failure of the health insurance services.
House Resolution (H.R.) 370 was introduced to Congress on January 9th, 2017 by Republican Rep. Bill Flores of Waco, Texas. The bill itself is quite simple, totaling two pages in length. The main purpose of the bill is repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA), completely restoring or reviving the laws it amended as if it had never existed. Unlike similar repeals to the ACA, this bill does not have a replacement plan or any sort of alternate plan. It simply takes the ACA away and restores the law to their pre-ACA state. This is concerning for many reasons, but it may also have some benefits as well. The future of America’s health care is ever changing and it is more important
The health care, policy-making process is composed of three major stages; the formulation stage, legislative stage, and the implementation stage. The policy process refers to the specific decisions and events that are required for a policy to be proposed, considered, and finally either implemented and/or set aside. It is an interactive process with multiple points of access providing opportunities to influence the multiple decision makers involved at each stage (Abood, 2007). Each stage presents a unique set of events for a policy to be proposed, considered, and either implemented or rejected. In the formulation stage there is
Who better to help discover research and help implement changes to healthcare issues than the nurse on a working level. I understand the uncertainty that nurses feel when having to advocate change as our textbook and other sources have reported, Education about policy, advocacy, politics should be initiated during the education process in the nursing schools, if this occurs the graduating nurse is very comfortable with the policy and politics policy and she will make a difference. This process should be consistently addressed in the work place. (Milstesd 2016). The Future of Nursing Report by the IOM states that “Nurses should be full partners redesigning health care. I strongly agreed with this statement, how many times has a new policy or change has been implemented that wasn’t beneficial for patient or you as the nurse. When nurses seek out to identify problems or issues of concern, take an active political role, to make a difference in the policy making process, we will finally see real change occur in health
As a united front, one could only imagine the power nurses alone could have if everyone advocated for political issues pertaining to healthcare. Taking the time to vote for local representatives and governors who support positive changes in healthcare can make a big impact. Unfortunately, this method is not dependable due to the fact that nurses as a whole do not realize that there is power in numbers. For many reasons, such as lack of interest or lack of education, too many nurses have no future plan to become politically involved in
In reading through various journal articles on the subject, I see how important it is for nurses to get involved in the political process. Nurses can sometimes get so focused on their job of taking care of their patients, that they fail to get involved with political matters. Nurses are great at advocating for their patients but many of them are just not prepared to voice their concerns publicly about staffing and funding shortages and also for patient’s safety (O'Connor, 2014). Nurses do have a lot of potential in contributing to the political process by participating in professional nursing organizations or through policy committees in the workplace. “To be successful
President Obama enacted the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in March 2010, in an effort to address the growing number of uninsured Americans. The Affordable Care Act would extend health coverage to millions of uninsured Americans and banned insurers from denying coverage to individuals with preexisting illnesses. The legislation extended coverage to an estimated 32 million of the nation’s 45 million uninsured people by expanding Medicaid, providing subsides to help low and middle income families purchase insurance, and through the creation of regulated insurance markets where people without insurance can purchase subsidized coverage.
As patient advocates, professional nurses realize the importance of being active in the political arena, regarding health policy to improve the overall health of society (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2014). A nurse can work individually or as a part of a nursing organization, such as the American Nurses Association, to have a positive impact on health care policy (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2014). The purpose of this paper is to discuss the legislative process, analyze nurse-to-patient ratios, and provide my opinion on this workplace issue.
The face of healthcare has been changing over the last decade. The role of nurse practitioners has become ever more important. This paper conducts a policy analysis as a systematic investigation of alternative policy options, for the emerging nationalized healthcare plan and the increased use of nurse practitioners. It looks at the goals of nationalized healthcare 's use of nurse practitioners and discusses to what extent this policy meets these goals. This paper begins with a detailing of the problem addressed by the policy and the goals and objectives of nationalized healthcare 's increased use of nurse practitioners. Next, alternatives to meeting the increased needs of the health industry,
All people utilize health care services at one point or another. All federal policies that intend to reform health care will affect the lives of all citizens. Currently the United States spends the highest amount on health care with the one of the lowest health outcomes compared other developed countries. In 2010, $8,233 per person was spent on health care, but with a life expectancy of 78.7 years (Kane, 2012). As a response to the high health care cost and low health care outcomes, President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), or most colloquially known as Obamacare. ACA was designed to address some of the issues that prevent people from receiving health insurance and transitioning from a privatized
Everyone is entitled to get the universal health coverage insurance. According to World Health Organization constitution (1948), all individuals have the right to health care. However, when it comes to UHI, the government will consider the most vulnerable persons without imposing any restrictions. These are people living below the poverty levels and can barely afford treatment costs. Equity in the healthcare program will be paramount and the country will track the records of health care access based on different factors such as sex, income level, residence, immigration status, and age.
To influence public policy, nurses must act as professionals with the ability and the responsibility to affect the current and future debate over the delivery of health care. This
I believe the issues that prompted a need for healthcare reform included an increase in chronic, life-long diseases, and rising costs of healthcare. The care that is delivered by registered nurses is taking on more leadership roles and advocacy of care functions. A 2010 IOM report indicates that nurses have an important contribution to make to "building a health care system that will meet the demand for safe, quality, patient-centered, accessible, and affordable care" (Wilson, Whitaker, & Whitford, 2012). With this being the focus of our health care system as nurses; we can lower the rates of hospital readmissions, as well as advocate for our patient’s chronic diseases which will hopefully provide adequate patient education limiting the severity
The health care practice arena is impacted by decisions made by our legislative bodies at the federal and state levels. The changes in health care delivery methods, together with the political process and politicians' increased involvement in