NURS 6053 Review of Current Healthcare Issues
Sample Answer for NURS 6053 Review of Current Healthcare Issues Included After Question
If you were to ask 10 people what they believe to be the most significant issue facing healthcare today, you might get 10 different answers. Escalating costs? Regulation? Technology disruption? Social Determinant such as environment/community, education, access/quality to healthcare?
These and many other topics are worthy of discussion. Not surprisingly, much has been said in the research, within the profession, and in the news about these topics. Whether they are issues of finance, quality, workload, or outcomes, there is no shortage of changes to be addressed.
In this Discussion, you examine a national healthcare issue and consider how that issue may impact your work setting. You also analyze how your organization has responded to this issue.
RESOURCES
Be sure to review the Learning Resources before completing this activity.
Click the weekly resources link to access the resources.
WEEKLY RESOURCES
To Prepare:
- Review the Resources and select one current national healthcare issue/stressor to focus on.
- Reflect on the current national healthcare issue/stressor you selected and think about how this issue/stressor may be addressed in your work setting.
BY DAY 3 OF WEEK 1
Post a description of the national healthcare issue/stressor you selected for analysis, and explain how the healthcare issue/stressor may impact your work setting. Which social determinant(s) most affects this health issue? Then, describe how your health system work setting has responded to the healthcare issue/stressor, including a description of what changes may have been implemented. Be specific and provide examples.
BY DAY 6 OF WEEK 1
Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days who chose a different national healthcare issue/stressor than you selected. Explain how their chosen national healthcare issue/stressor may also impact your work setting and what (if anything) is being done to address the national healthcare issue/stressor.
A Sample Answer For the Assignment: NURS 6053 Review of Current Healthcare Issues
Title: NURS 6053 Review of Current Healthcare Issues
Global healthcare systems are facing unprecedented times and uncertain future based on the current situation of Covid-19 pandemic. This has prompted quick adoption of technology in healthcare systems from booking of appointments to billing. Therefore, I believe one of the major current healthcare issues is on technology disruption. Much questions have been raised on the big data usage, incorporation of telehealth, synchronization of the national health data systems and on the confidentiality and security of the patient’s health records as cases of cybersecurity have soared with increased adoption of information technology in healthcare (Sittig et al., 2018).
Big data in healthcare systems refers to the accumulation of large sets of digital information about the patients’ biodata, medical history, clinical interventions, current and past medical concerns of the patients. This data is accumulated overtime rather than that which is received in small amounts and not stored for future references (Thew, 2016). This prompts the healthcare nurse informatics to employ the use of data analytics and data mining tools so that they can extract meaningful patterns, study the correlation and develop predictions (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2018). Use big data has proved to be essential in healthcare management especially when analyzed and used to inform critical decision-making points and even guide future evidence-based change projects (Byrd et al, 2018). This information is used by managers and administrators to identify patterns and areas of strength and weakness within the system and help plan in resource allocation.
However, big data faces one of the greatest security challenges especially on the confidentiality of the patient’s information. Cases of cyber insecurity have been rising since most healthcare facilities and organizations adopted use of technology to manage the spread of Covid-19 pandemic. The patient’s confidential data may be easily accessed if the systems security checks are not well enforced. In some of the online platforms like Amazon, for online shopping, the systems put in adequate security checks and user authentication and verification steps. The breech of patient’s confidential medical information could have adverse effects on the healthcare facility or organization hence incur a lot of expenses in terms of compensation and in the end the reputation of the organization will also be severely damaged.
Therefore, it is imperative for healthcare organizations and systems that procure any digital platform for managing healthcare records to invest heavily on ensuring the system is safe and secure from cyber security threats and phishing on patient’s data (Bibhuranjan, 2019). Moreover, there is need to improve the software technology to develop systems that are less susceptible to hacking. It is also essential to ensure that patients are well educated on ways of safely using the digital platforms and there should be readily accessible customer care agent to help patient’s carry out proper verification and maintain safety of their data.
Increased usage of digital platforms and information technology poses another safety threat to the patients as they are likely to seek
for medical advice from online blogs and unverified media sources that could be misleading to the patients. This information collected on such blogs has no scientifically proven or evidence-based data to support the claims or the medical advice offered. Moreover, the information could be provided by individuals who have no professional training in the areas that they are providing the medical information. There has been rapid increase in blogs from unregistered dietician and fitness coaches whose methods are not scientifically viable to rely on as professional medical procedures. Many patients have fallen prey to such misleading information that even sometimes discourages the use of conventional medication and clinical intervention measures (Young, 2016).
In conclusion, it is imperative for the federal and state government to come up with strict measures, laws and policies that govern the use of information technology in healthcare. The guidelines should be clear and the regulations must be standardized to enhance security of the patients’ data and also safeguard them from unverified and unethical practices and information availed to them on social media platforms. Any digital platforms or media engaging in medical or clinical information must have passed the licensure criteria that would be guided by strict conformity to the ethical issues in healthcare and meets the set standards.
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References
Bibhuranjan. (2019). Big data analytics – How beneficial is it for healthcare? Technofaq. https://technofaq.org/posts/2019/05/big-data-analytics-how-beneficial-is-it-for-healthcare/#:~:text=%20Big%20Data%20Analytics-%20Benefits%20in%20the%20Healthcare,is%20very%20important%20for%20any%20organization…%20More
Byrd, T.A., Kung, L., & Wang, Y. (2018). Big data analytics: Understanding its capabilities and potential benefits for healthcare organizations. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 126(1), 3-13. doi:10. 1016/j.techfore.2015.12.019
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2017). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Sittig, D. F., Wright, A., Coiera, E., Magrabi, F., Ratwani, R., Bates, D. W., & Singh, H. (2018). Current challenges in health information technology–related patient safety. Health Informatics Journal, 26(1), 146045821881489. https://doi.org/10.1177/1460458218814893
Thew, J. (2016). Big data means big potential, changes for nurse execs. HealthLeaders. https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/nursing/big-data-means-big-potential-challenges-nurse-execs
Young, A. (2016). The pros and cons of big data in the healthcare industry. HealthCareZone. https://www.healthtechzone.com/topics/healthcare/articles/2016/11/18/427248-pros-cons-big-data-the-healthcare-industry.htm
A Sample Answer 2 For the Assignment: NURS 6053 Review of Current Healthcare Issues
Title: NURS 6053 Review of Current Healthcare Issues
What a year was 2020, it was proclaimed “The year of the Nurse”. Nurses were to be celebrated for their bravery, hard work, dedication and commitment to the service, and we were. However, we were put to the ultimate test and there were no party hats and balloons at this celebration, just masks, PPEs, and lockdowns. As if it wasn’t recognized before, the nursing shortage became blatantly evident as these superhero nurses stood on the front line in the fight against COVID-19. The shortage of nurses is a global health care stressor that affects the entire health care system.
Richard Lamphier in his article titled 2020, The Year of the Nurse, 2021, The Year of the nursing shortage emphasized that the pandemic has highlighted the impact that nursing has on the world and that the profession has faced the biggest staffing shortage in history (Lamphier, 2021). The shortage of nurses and heath care professionals at large can have a negative effect on patient care and patient care outcomes. Most recently there was a post on Social Media by a relative of a patient that targeted my workplace, specifically a nurse in the ICU who was said to not be present during the death of a patient, not because she was delinquent but because she was busy attending to the needs of another patient. This is only a small occurrence of the myriad of complications that may result from such a strained system in my organization and many others where the demand for nurses exceed the supply (Lamphier, 2021).
The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that by the year 2030 the decline in health care worker shortage will be about 18million, directly impacting patient safety and care. To coincide with the nursing shortage, research has shown that it has a direct link to shortage in nursing faculty members or nurse educators. Boamah, et al. in their study on the shortage of nurses and nursing faculty concluded that the shortage nurse educators at the tertiary level threaten the ability to prepare and graduate competent nurses to aid in safe and efficient patient care and can be detrimental to sustaining nursing knowledge and guiding evidence-informed practice. It is important to get to the root of the problem in order to effectively correct it, whether it be faculty shortage, underpaid nurses, lack of support, or whatever the reason that drives nurses to leave an organization or the profession (Boamah, et al., 2021)
Although I live in a small country (The Bahamas) with only 2 major hospitals, the burden that we face in health care due to nursing shortage can be compared to the experience of some of the largest countries in the world. Nurses often leave the Bahamas to seek employment abroad, helping the strained, foreign countries but creating a bigger gap in their own country. In response to the nursing shortage, my hospital is trying to bridge that gap by recruiting nursing students to gain experience in the health care field as Patient Care Technicians, and offering them a short term contract to work for the hospital as RN’s post graduating with their BSN. This initiative has seemed to help, however, once the contract is up, the nurses then leave to go abroad as aforementioned.
References
Boamah, S. A., Callen, M., & Cruz, E. (2021). Nursing faculty shortage in Canada: A scoping review of contributing factors. Nursing Outlook.
https://doiorg.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2021.01.018
Lamphier, R. (2021). 2020 Year of the Nurse, 2021 Year of the Nursing Shortage. Georgia Nursing, 81(1), 1–2.
World Health Organization (2020). State of the world’s nursing 2020 – Investing in education, jobs and leadership Retrieved May 31st, 2021 from
https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240003279
As we begin this session, I would like to take this opportunity to clarify my expectations for this course:
Please note that GCU Online weeks run from Thursday (Day 1) through Wednesday (Day 7).
A Sample Answer 3 For the Assignment: NURS 6053 Review of Current Healthcare Issues
Title: NURS 6053 Review of Current Healthcare Issues
However, after we have discussed individual assignments’ point scores, if you still believe that the final grade you have earned at the end of the course is not commensurate with the quality of work you produced for this class, there is a formal Grade Grievance procedure which is outlined in the GCU Catalog and Student Handbook.
Rising healthcare costs and the increasing number of Americans that cannot afford health insurance are national healthcare issues affecting our profession and the healthcare system. Not only does this issue affect those uninsured but also those insured as Montero et al. (2022) mention that “about one-third of insured adults worry about affording their monthly health insurance premium, and 44% worry about affording their deductible before health insurance kicks in” (para. 6). The alarming number of Americans facing anxiety over the cost of insurance and healthcare bills leads to another problem: not seeking care until the illness or disease is so severe it requires an emergency room visit or hospitalization.
While working in the inpatient department of a hospital makes it challenging to address uninsured patients before they are admitted for severe problems, we can make an effort to help them going forward. Social workers are a huge benefit to the healthcare system, as their communication with patients and community connections can drastically change patient outcomes during and after hospitalization. Nurses and social workers must work collaboratively to ensure the best options are offered to meet the patient’s home, medical, and financial needs. Social workers often must have difficult conversations with patients to better the patient’s health and lifestyle (GBMC Healthcare, 2022).
At my facility, the patient population is no different. We aim to ensure a social worker is assigned to assess every patient in the hospital. The social worker makes recommendations based on the patients’ needs and educates the patient on the importance of acquiring insurance, ensuring a safe home environment, and offering assistance for financial or transportation needs so that healthcare professionals can continue proper medical care. Maintaining quality interprofessional communication between the nurse and social worker could be the difference in patient outcomes and whether they seek preventative care in the future.
I agrred with your point Laura, staff shortages with increasing care demands, resulting in provider burnout, is indeed a significant international healthcare issue. Healthcare professionals face many challenges when delivering care in healthcare organizations. Learning to implement ways to help the patient while providing quality care must be a priority to improve patient outcomes and ensure the patient is safe. As healthcare organizations continue to grow tremendously, so must patient care. Nursing shortage is one major issue that I have experienced since I began working as a nurse some years back. “According to the American Nurses Association (ANA) there is a shortage of 7.2 million healthcare workers with regard to health needs, whereas the report by the ‘Third Global Forum on Human Resources for Health’ estimates that by 2035, the nursing deficit will reach 12.9 million. (Rya & Shim, 2021). Working in skilled transitional care unit, nursing shortage creates unsafe nurse to patient staffing ratios. Unlike California, Maryland does not have a specific nurse-to-patient ratio in every hospital Unit, as a result, I have worked shifts with three patients; two of those were intubated on full ventilator support. An appropriate skilled assignment is one nurse for one invasively ventilated patient due to the close monitoring required to adequately care for the patient. (Broome & Marshall, 2021).
The nursing profession continues to face shortages due to various reasons such as lack of potential educators, high turnover, inequitable workforce distribution and nurses burnout. Nurse’s burnout in my opinion is a big issue and plays a significant reasons for shortage of nurses, some nurses graduate and start working and then determine the profession is not what they thought it would be. Others may work a while and experience burnout and leave the profession. Research quoted by the American Nurses Association indicates that in hospitals or facility where nurse burnout rates are high, patient health outcomes and reported levels of satisfaction are lower. This means that curbing nurse burnout is crucial for the safety and overall well-being of both patients and nurses. (Cappelucci 2020)
References
American Nurses Association. (2022, April). Patient safety Retrieved February 28, 2023, from https://www.ana.org/patientsafety Links to an external site.
Cappelucci, K. E. (2020, August 31). Burnout among health care professionals: A call to explore and address this under recognized threat to safe, high-quality care. National Academy of Medicine. https://nam.edu/burnout-among-health-care-professionals-a-call-to-explore-and-address-this-underrecognized-threat-to-safe-high-quality-care/ Links to an external site.
Doyle, J., & Streeter, R. A. (2017). Veterans’ location in health professional shortage areas: Implications for access to care and workforce supply. Health Services Research, 52, 459–480. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6773.12633Links to an external site.
Heinz, D. (2021, January 1). Hospital nurse staffing and patient outcomes: a review of current literature. Dimensions of Critical Care Nursing, 23(1), 44-50. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohostLinks to an external site.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rzh&AN=106723823&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Marshall, E. S., & Broome, M. E. (2017). Transformational leadership in nursing: From expert clinician to influential leader (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Springer
Ryu, I. S., & Shim, J. L. (2021). The influence of burnout on patient safety management activities of shift nurses: The mediating effect of compassion satisfaction. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(22), 12210. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182212210 Links to an external site.
Wang, Q., Tao, C., Yuan, Y., Zhang, S., & Liang, J. (2023). Current Situations and Challenges in the Development of Health Information Literacy. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(3). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032706