Nurses Unite to Change Healthcare Policies: A Call for Action - Essay Sample

Introduction

The policy change is an important event in Healthcare institutions. Currently, these are aware of the problems that affect health care services and the need for change in some of the policies. Daily experiences of nurses working in the real world of public healthcare institutions are motivating them to engage in some forms of public advocacy practices, the purpose of these practices is to influence the change in healthcare policies, regulations, and laws that govern the system of healthcare. Nurses, therefore are forced by some of the situations and policies to make steps beyond their setting of nursing practice into the less familiar circumstances of politics and policy, this world of policies finds most the nurses unprepared to undertake proper operations (Buscemi et al.2017). A successive policy and law advocacy are based on having the will, the power, the energy, and the time as well as political skills necessary to play a role in policy and political arena in healthcare. To be influential nurses must compose themselves as professionals with the ability to and responsible for influencing toady's healthcare services as well the future delivery in healthcare as an institution. This article explains the reasons that necessitate a change in policies regarding healthcare services and the need for advocacy based on a population-level.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Overview

Nursing profession focuses on human health science and the science of care. Their operations are based on particular frameworks that put into consideration the values of all patients in a holistic manner and seek to a promote and foster people's healthcare services throughout their life and across all levels of population in the society. The policy change is necessary to help in protecting the quality of healthcare operations; it also helps in ensure ring a long-lasting improvement in healthcare. Health policy is important for it contains the rules that govern health issues such as the requirements for the linguistically and culturally appropriate healthcare services, regulations on pollutions, and safety practices. These policies help in deciding on how different levels of the population can receive proper healthcare and the safety requirements for the nurse. Nurses influence affairs and decisions that relate to healthcare practices based on political knowledge, collaboration with the rest of the stakeholders in healthcare, and effective communication. This can help in promoting the working environment and increase positive outcomes on patients (Heiman et al. 2016). This is a dynamic process based on the spectrum and nurse's competency, knowledge, power, and capacity to change.

Public Policy in Healthcare

The healthcare environment that is influenced by a myriad of laws, policies, and regulations imposed by the political agencies, and institutions, private sectors leads to challenges facing both patients and nurses who are found experiencing cost constraints and problems in accessing quality healthcare. Advocacy in healthcare plays an important role in developing a strong healthcare system; it helps in giving people a place in the process of decision making that affects their health and lives. Also, advocacy helps to hold political agencies and policymakers accountable for providing necessary health services to all levels of the population, including the young population, aging population, and marginalized groups. Broad participation in health policies helps institutions and the government to provide quality healthcare. In order to improve healthcare services, it is important to for people who are working to establish strategies and know the appropriate way of changing the policies as well some of the practices of the government and other institutions that influence public health organization. Clinicians, educators from public health institutions and service providers should know the immediate obstacles of delivering their services; these are the people who are in a position enough to identify public health problems and have a better understanding the steps and methods of solving them, engaging clients in the process of policy review and modifications are important. Those who have better experience and expertise can bring about a positive influence in reviewing a policy that impacts the healthcare system negatively and eventually proposes an appropriate change. The government requires citizens and organizations that experience the consequences of particular policy problems advocacy as the first measure used to gain the necessary tools for improvements.

The projects involved in the process of advocacy based on improving any policy in healthcare can have an additional positive impact for developing a sustainable community that can sour port all levels of populations in terms of health and service delivery. Some of the policies that should be focused on or established are the provision of better jobs, affordable housing, food security, and street security for all these can eventually contribute to health in the population, aging and working population (Courtney, 2015). Changing policy towards achieving better health care involves exploring changes in the political agency practice or policy, engraining private sectors, and healthcare institutions. Involving ballot initiatives, changing laws, engaging a direct action on a group, and litigation often serve as the beast steps for advocacy. Understanding the effects of particular health policy can help in establishing casualty based on the terms of the effect and the welfare of the state regarding the population health and inequalities associated with healthcare services. Socioeconomic problems are the major cause of economic, social, and environmental risk factors; this leads to health inequalities. Public health policies serve at different levels affecting the population health. Some of the impacts include the negative influence on primary prevention or vaccination of various diseases. Some policies may also influence secondary preventions practices which aim ate eradicating further development of a disease from attaining uncontrollable symptomatic stage. Public health policies today have influenced most of the aspects of society based on health care services.

The importance of changing a policy in health care is important in promoting a conducive working environment for the nurses as well as improving service delivery, which in turn can help to impact a patient's recovery process positively. Most of the successes that have been experienced in the health sector would not have happened if not for the changes in some of the policies. The institutions responsible for disease control and prevention have provided a list of public health achievements based on some problems which initially affected health care. These include tobacco control, safety in motor vehicle industries, infant and maternal healthcare. The achievements in these sectors involved policy change and advocacy. As a result of changes in public health policies, there has been a rise in the aging population and high birth rates. The interventions for public health problems may occur in various levels; the most common interventions are the application of downstream, interventions which involve individual level based on behavioral methods of approach to prevent a disease well as strategies necessary to achieve established plan. The success of every step is based on whether some of the sections in a population are likely to embrace the idea or successfully collaborate with some of the initiatives. How public health interventions determines their influence as it percolates into various aspects regarding the behavior of an individual and the way of live and working conditions. The plan of URC is based on two goals aimed at eradicating health problems, and these are: to boost capacity in the organizations, national level, state, and the communities to influence the development of policies secondly is to foster translation of research findings in order to influence policy change.

Another form of intervention is the process of training trainers; some of the community members responsible for establishing projects based on policy change and advocacy can be trained to undertake various tasks, which includes workshop cofacilitation.

Effective change of the policy is, ore likely to promote health when most of the basic principles for policy making are considered. Public health policies are laws, plans, regulations, and actions that are carried out to promote objectives of public health in society. Principles for successive healthcare practices include the use of integrative evidence to inform policy, the process of making policy is complex. It involves multiple factors such as feasibility aspects, consideration of the opinions from the stakeholders, and political aspects. Evidence from sound research is necessary for making a sound decision. In order to design a policy, research available from the best-known sources should be considered. For the case of emerging problems in the sector of healthcare, research evidence based on the solutions regarding a particular problem must be explored in detail (Wallerstein et al. 2017). Many of the evidence-based policies are known for addressing public health problems in effectively, for instance, the use of community guide which contains a collection of evidence that is based on findings from the community level is one of the best sources in of evidence for the establishments of new policies and changing of the existing ones. Another principle is the consideration of health equity; this refers to every person who has an opportunity to the highest level of health. When making a decision or formulating policy, it is important to consider health equity through optimization of the conditions in places where people are born, learn, grow, work, live, and their age. Involving other sectors in society to address various factors that affect healthcare is important.

Health care policies that dismantle and address the underlying economic, political, social, and physical determines regarding healthcare services can help in to advance equity in healthcare. For instance, if changes in land development are proposed, policy makers and planners must consider ways in which these changes may result in displacement and gentrification of historically marginalized people, this can have various forms of implications in their health. Through the consideration of health equity, considering the questions like how the established policy may decrease or increase access for the communities based on color, age, and locations. In addition, aspects of equity are promoted. Considering health equity can also be applicable in policy implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of policy to ensure the promotion of equity through various indicators that help in documenting progress aimed at health equity and other related goals.

Any change in the policy setting, including economic change; this helps in opening more channels for opportunities in controlling public health problems. The policy victory is realized from the appointment of a new policymaker based on new objectives that guarantee change that may positively affect the population health. Steps of advocacy include:

Acquiring Facts and Collection of Data

In order to establish effective policy, change, it is important to identify a problem based on the current situation. Describing the nature of the problem is also important; this involves finding out the wrong aspects and the reasons why the identified aspects cause a problem in health care. This step also involves the identifications of the population affected and their experience

Building Support

This is a very import step in advocacy; it involves organizing and building of coalition based on speci...