NR 506 Week 8: Global Policy Reform Discussion
Sample Answer for NR 506 Week 8: Global Policy Reform Discussion Included After Question
NR 506 Week 8: Global Policy Reform Discussion
Reflect on the concepts and practices you have learned in NR506 on healthcare systems, politics, and health policy. Read the article that is linked below and share insights as how to make informed decisions on nursing practice and patient outcomes on a global basis. In addition, state how you will apply what you have learned in this course to your upcoming practicum experience. Note: it is welcome but not necessary to post your own references this week in your discussion responses. Enjoy the reading and simply reflect with us.
Read the article (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. by:
Kohl, H.W., Craig, C. L., Lambert, E.V., Inoue, S., Alkandari, J.R., Leetonngin, G., & Kahlmeier, K. (2012). The
pandemic of physical inactivity: Global action for public health. The Lancet, 380(9838), 294-305. doi:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60898-8.
A systems approach to dealing with the global issue of physical inactivity is discussed.
A Sample Answer For the Assignment: NR 506 Week 8: Global Policy Reform Discussion
Title: NR 506 Week 8: Global Policy Reform Discussion
From reading the article, it reinforced the concept that simply having a policy in place does not mean it is being executed to its fullest potential (Kohl et al., 2016). Issues that are prevalent in one area of the world might not be common in another part of the world; this possibility will have to be considered when developing a global policy (Kohl et al., 2016). No matter the location, any action that a nurse takes must always be with the patient in mind. The nurse must evaluate aspects of the patient’s life that might make him different from the patient right next door with the same medical problem. As nurses we should be able to think on our feet and be flexible when it comes to our solutions for the patient. One treatment we might think is the best in reality might not be a suitable option for a particular patient.
From this course, I have learned the importance that nursing has in the political area. Nurses have a tendency to think they are just products of the system and are told what to do. On the contrary, nurses hold much more power than they realize. We are patient advocates, so we have a duty to change the system if we do not agree with it. We are problem solvers in our daily practice; this skill is vital for public policy. Through this course, I feel I have developed more confidence in feeling capable to speak to someone in policymaking or administration about an issue. We have a responsibility to ourselves and the people we care for to be lifelong learners, and I will try to implement this concept into my own practice one day. We are entrusted to give the patient the best possible care that we can provide. To accomplish this objective, we must strive to better our practice while always safeguarding the rights and integrity of our patients.
References 
Kohl, H.W., Craig, C. L., Lambert, E.V., Inoue, S., Alkandari, J.R., Leetonngin, G., & Kahlmeier, K. (2012). The pandemic of physical inactivity: Global action for public health. The Lancet, 380(9838), 294-305. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60898-8.
I find this course really helps nurses find their voice and the policy assignment can be very empowering. You discussed keeping the patient in mind, which is very important – how might thinking about the community or population instead of individual patients change things?
When taking a community into consideration for a policy change issue, your goal might be different than if you were just helping one individual. When multiple people are involved you must think about what is better for the group as a whole. It might not benefit every single member of the group, but you must think about what action will benefit the most people. In this situation, the result might not be fair for every individual, but you have to think about what action is going to help the most people. When trying to help a larger group of people, you also are going to have to be more creative and think outside box since there are so many different people with different needs that you are having to take into consideration.
When thinking of a population, you need to look at aggregate data. For example, I used to work with women on bedrest for preterm labor. Then the research found that bedrest did not help in preventing preterm labor. So for the population of women with preterm labor, bedrest is not the best practice. However, for individual patients it might still be recommended.
Great insight and sharing information about global policy. I completely agree with you that nurses are capable with being very influential with change for their patients and what’s in the best interest for their health. With nursing care, personalized care is a huge component on patient care and how it affects patient’s health outcomes and improvements of care. As nurses, we are able to assess what is best for our patients and become their voice and advocate for their specific needs and realize how important our role is within healthcare policy to impact change for our patients and nursing profession. Again, great perspective. Wish you and everyone in the class the best as you move forward on your journey at Chamberlain! 🙂
One-to-one nursing provides direct services to patients in need, but one-to one direct nursing has little impact or influence on changing community healthcare goals or healthcare systems and policies. Thinking about community and population health needs calls for nurses to get involved with public policy advocacy. Public policy advocacy has more of a direct influence on implementing community healthcare goals and creating policies that benefit all patient groups.
Nurses who train to become public policy health advocates put themselves in unique positions to take on roles as lobbyists for specific health causes, help draft legislation for a needed health policy, speak at conferences, become liaisons for coalitions, even start grass roots health policy organizations and join forces with more established organizations that advocate similar causes. Public policy advocacy is a great way to get community health issues heard on a grand scale to influence system change (Arabi, Rafii, Cheraghi, & Ghiyasvandian, 2014). However, public policy advocacy is not the best method to provide direct services to individual population members in need (Arabi et al., 2014). Only root causes of the issue will be addressed, such as reviewing the legality and constitutionality of laws and ordinances (Arabi et al., 2014). Both one-to-one nursing and public policy advocacy are effective in their own way.
Reference:
Arabi, A., Rafii, F., Cheraghi, M. A., & Ghiyasvandian, S. (2014). Nurses’ policy influence: A concept analysis. Iranian Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Research, 19(3), 315–322. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4061635/
When thinking of population health, it is also important to define population as some think by community, others by age groups and others by disease categories as examples.
I enjoyed your post. It is true that policies in place does not mean they are being implemented into practice. This is often true to new policies and policy changes. We should be cautious that policies are put in place to increase the quality of life for our communities. I believe practitioners should try to ensure policies are being practiced to prevent incidents and to provide optimal care to patients. Proactive is better than reactive and most of the times we are reactive because policies have not be followed.
Hello,
As an advanced practice nurse, it is crucial that we have the ability to make informed decisions on nursing practices. Obtaining research and gaining knowledge about the topic is a crucial part of making these decisions. Many times, the research that is done is not necessarily the most recent or the best practice. We need to be sure that the research being done is the best available (Oxman, A. (2016). Patient outcomes depend on the current practices and can improve when we discover what has worked well and what has not worked well. In the article, there were multiple steps when gaining information about physical inactivity.
First, activity must be measured and then a guide can be made. We then need to take a step back and decide what is needed to help this move forward. This goes for any topic. While researching about my policy issue, it took time to figure what the goal was and the steps to get there. It is a one step at a time kind of deal, which makes it much more difficult (Kohl et al, 2012).
When thinking about my upcoming practicums, I believe that this process will help me take a step back and think about the issues that we face in healthcare and also how we can help make change. I have learned that when finding a problem, research and communication can go a long way.
References
Kohl, H.W., Craig, C.L., Lambert, E.V., Inoue, S., Alkandari, J.R., Leetonngin, G. & Kahlmeier, K. (2012). The pandemic of physical inactivity: Global action for the public health. The Lancet, 380(9838), 294-305.
Oxman, A. (2016). GRADE evidence to decision frameworks: a systematic and transparent approach to making well informed healthcare choices. The bmj, 28(1), 353.
It also had me thinking about individual vs population based guidelines. When you think of population health, how do you think of it as there are different ways you can think of populations – what would make the most sense when determining guidelines for physical activity?
When considering guidelines for different patient populations, there should be guidelines based on different factors, such as: age, physical health, and current condition. My policy priority issue was childhood obesity so most of my research was based on a younger patient population. Older adults, age sixty-five an older need about two hours and thirty minutes of aerobic activity each week (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). This could include activities such as brisk walking and swimming. A patient with impaired physical health needs, such as rheumatoid arthritis may not be able to tolerate this amount of exercise do to physical limitations.
Therefore, their health plan may need to be adjusted based on what they can tolerate comfortably. Maybe, swimming would be a better choice for them. An example of current conditional state would be pregnancy. Woman that exercise before they become pregnant can continue to exercise at their same prepregnant rate. But woman that are not conditioned to exercise before pregnancy should limit their exercise gradually and continue aerobic activities such as walking, yoga, or swimming (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015).
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2015). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.govLinks to an external site.