Healthcare Policy-Making: Improving American Healthcare

This assignment requires that I develop and thoroughly analyze a public policy in order to advocate for one that improves the health of the public and/or the nursing profession globally (local, state, national or international). To do this, I must reflect on several aspects of being a policy maker within the nursing profession. I was instructed to consider the following:

The four spheres of political action in nursing as mentioned by Mason, Leavitt, and Chaffee (2011) includes the workplace or workforce, the government, the organizations, and the community. The authors further stated that although the four spheres overlap at times, the action performed in any one of these spheres can cause a reaction in any of the others. Nurses are a part of the community in which they live and can influence health and social policy within their workplace, which can have a profound impact on the organization. Furthermore, the government can pass health care policies, which in turn causes the organization to change their policy. Thus, affecting healthcare providers in the workplace and the community at large. An example of

Nurses have the ability to have their voice received which can aid with change in health care by a number of ways, one of which is to become active within the community and advocate for nursing and advanced care for the public. One way this can be done is to influence legislators by becoming active in supporting health care bills.

Political activism is an important complement for nurses in the clinical practice. Nurses are in an exceptional position not only to provide quality bed side care to their patients but also to advocate for change within the community and political field. Common problem affecting a group of people can be a political issue. Identifying the cause of this issue and advocating to solve the root cause with the help of decision makers like politicians, hospital executives, managers or government bureaucrats, nurses can bring beneficial changes in Canadian Health care system.

NURSES AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS’ INVOLVEMENT IN THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPEMENTATION OF HEALTHCARE POLICY IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: CASE SCENARIO THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

The United States healthcare system is undergoing a tremendous amount of changes. Cost effective care delivery has become a major focus from a sociopolitical perspective to socioeconomic. Healthcare policy is needed to support this innovation. There are specific healthcare goals that require policies derived from health specifics decisions, planning, and actions. Health policy helps to prioritize goals and roles from different stakeholders in the healthcare field as well as promote the achievement of vision for the future which in turn helps to establish targets and points of reference for the short and medium term ( World Health Organization, n.d.). Nurses in the advance leadership role can engage in this revolution that is to transform the entire healthcare system thus promote greater opportunities and autonomy for the nursing profession as a whole.

Mason, D. J., Leavitt, J. K., & Chaffee, M. W. (2014). Policy & politics in nursing and health care (6th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Saunders.

Thank for your informative post. Engaging in healthcare politics is not as easy as it sounds. Even though nurses may join their employer’s union and or become a member of a major nursing organization it does not necessarily mean they are actively involved. According to Rubenstein and Graham (2011), nurses should complete baccalaureate education feeling confident in their ability to participate in political activism. Insufficient knowledge of the political process, they denote results in a lack confidence that in turn hinders nurse engagement and impedes their ability to influence change (Rubenstein & Graham, 2011).

Nurses play a vital role in policymaking that can impact the nursing society and public population for years to come. Hamer (2015) voiced her concerns stating “short-term decisions have long term consequences” such as government cutbacks on expenses and nursing staff (p. 11). Nursing shortages has a direct impact on quality of care and patient safety which emphasizes the need for more nurses to be involved in policymaking. Cherry and Jacob (2014)

American Nurses Association represented since 1974 represents as (ANA) goal- “improvement of the healthcare system in the United States”

According to the RWJF survey, opinion leaders identified the top ten barriers to nurses influencing health care: nurses are not perceived as important decision makers, they do not generate revenue, nurses focus on primary care as opposed to preventative care, and nurses do not have a single voice in addressing national health care issues (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2010). In reality, nurses make important decisions every shift they work, however, this is overlooked as the powers that be perceive physicians as a powerful influence, therefore, doctors are listened to when it comes to health care policy. In addition, nurses are not perceived as revenue generators, however, if it were not for nurses and the care they provide, there would be

Thank you for your post. According to Zaccagnini (2014), nurses must take advantage of positive public opinion and their pivotal position in the health care system as the largest group of providers (Zaccagnini, et al., 2014). The authors asserts that APRNs can be a crucial part of reforming health care by offering guidance and support to elected leaders. Political activism provides nurses with the means to promote overall health through passing supportive health policy legislation, using evidence-based policy to transform institutional and national health systems, and employing policy language that prevents discrimination in reimbursement and patient access to providers.

Members and experts from many specialty organizations work with ANA lobbyist in the United States. Congress and different state council to advice and convince legislators concerning the requires of nursing and the public regarding healthcare issues and quality care. Some of these activities have involved, and continue to include advocating for greater nursing presence in the current patient protection and affordable care act (March 2010) (ANA,2011a; Gallagher,2010). Goals of political advocacy include greater nurse involvement in providing access to care, influencing the cost and quality of care, identify the scope and authority of practice, and improving the healthcare workforce.

In reality health care policies are generated and developed in the private sectors by various agencies such as accrediting agencies, hospitals, and managed care organizations. The policy process is conceptualized as a process of power and implementation that can influence meaningful changes amongst the industry. Policies are generated from local, state, and court rulings that produce policies. The process is identified as specific decisions and or events that occur before implementation. The process of policy making can be broken down into 3 phases which are formulation phase, implementation phase, and evaluation phase. Stakeholders, accrediting agencies, managed care plans, and the external environment have the most influence in the formulation phase, along with after the evaluation phase of policy making.

By reading the report, “The Future of Nursing Leading Change Advancing Health”, it describes how important nurses are becoming stronger leaders for the future advancement of nursing. With all the changes coming with the Affordable Care Act, this report recommends that nurses need to be playing a large contributing roll in the development of policies to maintain patient centered health care, making sure that health care is accessible to all, and is affordable. Stronger leadership skills can be developed through continued education. By nurses moving on to higher degree education, they are thus developing the leadership skills they will need to work more cohesively with others both in the health care field and out. Nurses need to be playing a role in all aspects of policy making. From working in the hospitals and communities as advocates for patients which is defined as “The nurse is demonstrating the value of other-centeredness to advance the health of an individual” (Creasia & Friberg, 2011, p. 80). Nurses will need to sit on boards both in the hospitals and in the public sector, legislating to political officials, and even possibly holding a political office themselves. It is going to take all nurses to make a change from nursing students to advance practice nurses, educators, and nursing organizations leadership (“The