Nursing Policy Development Healthcare policies are developed to address various issues that prevent healthcareproviders from providing high quality patient care. Since healthcare issues are interrelated,policies addressing one issue often have an impact on other issues. This paper will show theimportance of taking into consideration all possible areas that may be impacted by a givenhealthcare policy […]
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Healthcare policies are developed to address various issues that prevent healthcare
providers from providing high quality patient care. Since healthcare issues are interrelated,
policies addressing one issue often have an impact on other issues. This paper will show the
importance of taking into consideration all possible areas that may be impacted by a given
healthcare policy initiative.
Impact of Policy
Any nurse policy is likely to have an impact on other nursing areas. For instance,
improving the quality of patient care may require that nurses work for longer hours and
handle more workload (Park & Yu, 2019). A policy to address heavy workload of nurses may
involve increasing the number of nurses in a given healthcare facility. However, this solution
may significantly increase labor costs of the healthcare facility (Park & Yu, 2019). Thus, for
policy development to be effective it needs to address the various competing needs that may
be impacted by the policy.
Competing Needs in the National Healthcare Stressor
In the national healthcare stressor (adoption of technology in healthcare) that was
examined, the competing needs are resources required to purchase the healthcare technology
system, potential slow-down of healthcare services, and possible disruptions to care. With
regards to resources, purchasing of a good healthcare technology system may require that the
healthcare organization uses financial resources that may be needed in other places, such as
increasing hospital capacity or increasing staff numbers (Kelly & Porr, 2018). The
technology system may also reduce the efficiency of the work of nurses as they may have to
spend a lot of time operating the technology system, especially when they are not familiar
with the technology system (Kaye, 2017). Lastly, malfunctioning of the technology system
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may cause disruptions to patient care. Thus, a policy development that involves introduction
of healthcare technology system in a healthcare facility should also consider competing
needs, such as finances, readiness of staff to use it, and effect on workflow.
There are various ways in which policy might be used to address competing needs
identified in the national stressor that has been examined. For instance, the organization may
consider using a grant to purchase the technology system. Nurses may also be taken through
extensive training in the usage of the technology system so that it does not consume a lot of
their time as a result of their unfamiliarity with it (Kaye, 2017). As for workflow disruptions
due to, among other things, malfunctioning of equipment, there should be a back up method
for caring for patients.
Conclusion
Nursing issues do not occur in isolation. They are all interconnected in various ways.
Thus, any policy that seeks to address a given issue should be alive to these interconnections.
Failure to address interconnected issues may result in the policy improving one area while
worsening another one.
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References
Kelly, P., & Porr, C. (2018). Ethical Nursing Care Versus Cost Containment: Considerations
to Enhance RN Practice. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 23(1).
Kaye, S. P. (2017). Nurses’ attitudes toward meaningful use technologies: an integrative
review. CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing, 35(5), 237-247.
Park, H., & Yu, S. (2019). Effective policies for eliminating nursing workforce shortages: A
systematic review. Health Policy and Technology.
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