Week 7: Health Policy and Politics

Nurses may have innovative suggestions for changing a particular health care practice, but if the suggestions are not enacted through policy, they help no one and simply remain good ideas. Fortunately, nurses today frequently are involved in the policy development process due to their increasingly recognized expertise in all aspects of health and health care. These policies may be at the organizational, local, state, national or global levels. The ability of nurses to help establish effective policy allows them to have a broader influence than through practice alone. 

This week, you will explore the policy-making process and how issues reach the public agenda. You will also analyze how policies influence health care delivery and population health. In addition, you will consider ethical and value-based frameworks that guide policy development and practice.

Learning ObjectivesStudents will:

• Analyze the influence of a health care policy on health care delivery and apply Kingdon’s Model to health policy development 
• Evaluate key characteristics of an effective women’s preventive health care program 

Photo Credit: Anuska Sampedro/Moment/Getty Images

Learning Resources Required Readings

Milstead, J. A. (2016). Health policy and politics: A nurse’s guide (5th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

• Chapter 1, “Advanced Practice Registered Nurses and Public Policy, Naturally” (pp. 1-44)This chapter explains public policy and the nurse’s role in directing health care issues to the government and securing a response.
• Chapter 2, “Agenda Setting” (pp. 45-68)This chapter provides examples of the process of moving a problem to the attention of the government so the solution can be considered at the state and federal levels.
• Chapter 3, “Government Response: Legislation” (pp. 69-98)This chapter explores the multiple factors that influence the development of public policy through the legislative branch of government.

Coalition for Patients’ Rights. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.patientsrightscoalition.org/

 

This website details the initiative of the Coalition for Patients’ Rights, which seeks to ensure that patients everywhere have access to the quality health care providers of their choice.

University of Washington School of Medicine. (n.d.) Ethics in medicine: Managed care. Retrieved from http://depts.washington.edu/bioethx/topics/manag.html

 

This article explains the effects and ethical concerns associated with managed care, which integrates payment with the delivery of health care.

Required Media

Laureate Education (Producer). (2012b). Health policy and politics. Baltimore, MD: Author.

 

Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 16 minutes.

 

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Optional Resources

Milstead, J. A. (2016). Health policy and politics: A nurse’s guide (5th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

• Chapter 5, “Policy Design” (pp. 151-169)
• Chapter 6, “Policy Implementation” (pp. 171-188)
• Chapter 7, “Program Evaluation” (pp. 189-218)

Discussion: Health Care Policy

In this week’s media presentation, Dr. Trautman, Dr. Wakefield, and Ms. Coyle discuss how public policies initiated at the national or state level ultimately influence what occurs at the institutional and local level of nursing practice and health care delivery. Health care policy usually is developed to address health care cost, quality, or access, or a combination of the three. Due to the nature of their interaction with patients, nurses are well situated to be effective, knowledgeable advocates for their patients.

In this week’s Discussion, you will examine how current policies impact how you as a nurse provide health care. You will then select an issue of interest and determine how you could advocate for policy in that area. 

To prepare:

• Select one public policy that currently is impacting you and your practice. Consider the following:
• What health care driver was the policy designed to address: cost, quality, access, or a combination?
• Does the policy appear to be achieving its intended results? On what data are you basing your assumption?
• What have been the effects (adverse or positive) of this policy on health care cost, quality, and access?
• How is this policy affecting your nursing practice?
• Next, select a health care issue—something you see or experience on a daily basis—about which you would like to influence a practice change through the policy process. 
• Review the Learning Resources, focusing on Kingdon’s Model. How would you utilize this model to guide your policy development?

By Day 3

Post a brief description of a public policy that is having an impact on your practice; summarize your analysis of the policy using the bulleted list above as a guide. Then, summarize the issue you would like to influence though a change in public policy, and outline how you would utilize Kingdon’s Model to guide your policy development.

Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.

By Day 6

Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days in one or more of the following ways: 

• Ask a probing question, substantiated with additional background information, evidence, or research using an in-text citation in APA format.
• Share an insight from having read your colleagues’ postings, synthesizing the information to provide new perspectives.
• Offer and support an alternative perspective using readings from the classroom or from your own research in the Walden Library.
• Validate an idea with your own experience and additional research.
• Make a suggestion based on additional evidence drawn from readings or after synthesizing multiple postings.
• Expand on your colleagues’ postings by providing additional insights or contrasting perspectives based on readings and evidence.

Submission and Grading InformationGrading Criteria 

 

To access your rubric:

Week 7 Discussion Rubric

Post by Day 3 and Respond by Day 6

 

To participate in this Discussion:

Week 7 Discussion

Application Assignment 2: Part 2 - Developing an Advocacy Campaign

The following application, Part 2, will be due in Week 7.

To prepare:

• Review Chapter 3 of Milstead, J. A. (2016). Health policy and politics: A nurse’s guide (5th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
• In the first assignment, you reflected on whether the policy you would like to promote could best be achieved through the development of new legislation, or a change in an existing law or regulation. Refine as necessary using any feedback from your first paper.
• Contemplate how existing laws or regulations may affect how you proceed in advocating for your proposed policy. 
• Consider how you could influence legislators or other policymakers to enact the policy you propose.
• Think about the obstacles of the legislative process that may prevent your proposed policy from being implemented as intended.

To complete:

Part Two will have approximately 3–4 pages of content plus a title page and references. Part Two will address the following: 

• Explain whether your proposed policy could be enacted through a modification of existing law or regulation or the creation of new legislation/regulation.
• Explain how existing laws or regulations could affect your advocacy efforts. Be sure to cite and reference the laws and regulations using primary sources.
• Provide an analysis of the methods you could use to influence legislators or other policymakers to support your policy. In particular, explain how you would use the “three legs” of lobbying in your advocacy efforts. 
• Summarize obstacles that could arise in the legislative process and how to overcome these hurdles.
• Paste the rubric at the end of your paper.

By Day 7 of Week 7

This Assignment is due.

Submission and Grading Information

To submit your completed Assignment for review and grading, do the following:

• Please save your Assignment using the naming convention “WK7Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” as the name. 
• Click the Week 7 Assignment Rubric to review the Grading Criteria for the Assignment.
• Click the Week 7 Assignment link. You will also be able to “View Rubric” for grading criteria from this area.
• Next, from the Attach File area, click on the Browse My Computer button. Find the document you saved as “WK7Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” and click Open. 
• If applicable: From the Plagiarism Tools area, click the checkbox for I agree to submit my paper(s) to the Global Reference Database.
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Grading Criteria 

 

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Week 7 Assignment Rubric

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Submit your Week 7 Assignment draft and review the originality report.

Submit Your Assignment by Day 7 of Week 7

 

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Week 7 Assignment