NURS 6053 Organizational Policies and Practices to Support Healthcare Issues

NURS 6053 Organizational Policies and Practices to Support Healthcare Issues

Organizational Policies and Practices to Support Healthcare Issues

The healthcare environment is significantly growing and improving the quality of clinical services is essential. Healthcare policies and practices provide regulation in daily operation and ensure uniformity for all employees so that there are no discrepancies (Rosa et al., 2020). For a policy to be developed in nursing, the competing needs must align with the agenda the strategy is advocating for. Competing needs arise when the healthcare workers want to meet the set goals and objectives. For example, the workforce needs may be adequately addressed but the resources required are not sufficient enough to facilitate policy development (Anderson et al., 2020).

The competing needs that may impact the national healthcare issue/stressor under study in this discussion is the multi-morbidity. Multi-morbidity is steadily increasing across the world and poses a major challenge to healthcare systems around the world (Franklin et al., 2017). According to the healthcare providers, the reasons for the rise in multi-morbidity is lifestyle choices in which most Americans live a sedentary life, leading to obesity, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. In Medicare population, 65% of patients have two or more chronic illnesses, therefore, Multi-morbidity is related to ageing and it is also socially patterned being common and occurring at an early age in areas of high socio-economic deficiency (Sacha et al., 2020).

To address the competing needs, the healthcare organization has to implement major changes in the workforce issue, managing patients, and distribution of resources (Figueroa et al., 2019). Managing chronic illnesses reduces the cost of healthcare because the rate of chronic diseases is higher especially in the US compared to other nations. The population affected by chronic illnesses requires special attention, therefore, the government should get sufficient nurses to help the people. Through the process of expansion of the affordable treatment programs, discouraging sedentary lifestyle, improving the medication adherence, and providing grants and funds to support healthcare, the health organization in America can play its role in the reduction health care cost (Crowley et al., 2020).

In conclusion, managing chronic illnesses, increasing resources, and advising people to live a healthy lifestyle leads to achieving the set goals in healthcare. Reduction in workforce can be achieved through gathering enough resources. Managing the competing needs have impacted before setting organizations policies and practices.

References

Anderson, J. E., Ross, A. J., Macrae, C., & Wiig, S. (2020). Defining adaptive capacity in healthcare: a new framework for researching resilient performance. Applied ergonomics, 87, 103111.

Crowley, R., Daniel, H., Cooney, T. G., & Engel, L. S. (2020). Envisioning a better US health care system for all: coverage and cost of care. Annals of Internal Medicine, 172(2_Supplement), S7-S32.

Franklin, P. (2017). Sustainable Development Goal on Health (SDG3): The opportunity to make EU health a priority. EPC Discussion Paper, 18 May 2017.

Figueroa, C. A., Harrison, R., Chauhan, A., & Meyer, L. (2019). Priorities and challenges for health leadership and workforce management globally: a rapid review. BMC health services research, 19(1), 239.

Rosa, W. E., Gray, T. F., Chow, K., Davidson, P. M., Dionne-Odom, J. N., Karanja, V., … & Mazanec, P. (2020). Recommendations to leverage the palliative nursing role during COVID-19 and future public health crises. Journal of Hospice & Palliative Nursing, 22(4), 260-269.

Sacha, J., Sacha, M., Soboń, J., Borysiuk, Z., & Feusette, P. (2017). Is it time to begin a public campaign concerning frailty and pre-frailty? A review article. Frontiers in physiology, 8, 484.

The healthcare environment is significantly growing and improving the quality of clinical services is essential. Healthcare policies and practices provide regulation in daily operation and ensure uniformity for all employees so that there are no discrepancies (Rosa et al., 2020). For a policy to be developed in nursing, the competing needs must align with the agenda the strategy is advocating for. Competing needs arise when the healthcare workers want to meet the set goals and objectives. For example, the workforce needs may be adequately addressed but the resources required are not sufficient enough to facilitate policy development (Anderson et al., 2020).

The competing needs that may impact the national healthcare issue/stressor under study in this discussion is the multi-morbidity. Multi-morbidity is steadily increasing across the world and poses a major challenge to healthcare systems around the world (Franklin et al., 2017). According to the healthcare providers, the reasons for the rise in multi-morbidity is lifestyle choices in which most Americans live a sedentary life, leading to obesity, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. In Medicare population, 65% of patients have two or more chronic illnesses, therefore, Multi-morbidity is related to ageing and it is also socially patterned being common and occurring at an early age in areas of high socio-economic deficiency (Sacha et al., 2020).

To address the competing needs, the healthcare organization has to implement major changes in the workforce issue, managing patients, and distribution of resources (Figueroa et al., 2019). Managing chronic illnesses reduces the cost of healthcare because the rate of chronic diseases is higher especially in the US compared to other nations. The population affected by chronic illnesses requires special attention, therefore, the government should get sufficient nurses to help the people. Through the process of expansion of the affordable treatment programs, discouraging sedentary lifestyle, improving the medication adherence, and providing grants and funds to support healthcare, the health organization in America can play its role in the reduction health care cost (Crowley et al., 2020).

In conclusion, managing chronic illnesses, increasing resources, and advising people to live a healthy lifestyle leads to achieving the set goals in healthcare. Reduction in workforce can be achieved through gathering enough resources. Managing the competing needs have impacted before setting organizations policies and practices.

NURS 6053  Organizational Policies and Practices to Support Healthcare Issues

Discussion: Organizational Policies and Practices to Support Healthcare Issues

Quite often, nurse leaders are faced with ethical dilemmas, such as those associated with choices between competing needs and limited resources. Resources are finite, and competition for those resources occurs daily in all organizations.

For example, the use of 12-hour shifts has been a strategy to retain nurses. However, evidence suggests that as nurses work more hours in a shift, they commit more errors. How do effective leaders find a balance between the needs of the organization and the needs of ensuring quality, effective, and safe patient care?

In this Discussion, you will reflect on a national healthcare issue and examine how competing needs may impact the development of polices to address that issue.

To Prepare:

  • Review the Resources and think about the national healthcare issue/stressor you previously selected for study in Module 1.
  • Reflect on the competing needs in healthcare delivery as they pertain to the national healthcare issue/stressor you previously examined.

By Day 3 of Week 3

Post an explanation of how competing needs, such as the needs of the workforce, resources, and patients, may impact the development of policy. Then, describe any specific competing needs that may impact the national healthcare issue/stressor you selected. What are the impacts, and how might policy address these competing needs? Be specific and provide examples.

By Day 6 of Week 3

Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days by providing additional thoughts about competing needs that may impact your colleagues’ selected issues, or additional ideas for applying policy to address the impacts described.

Hello Chelsea,

I agree with you that nurses are expected to provide quality patient care with less resources and this can cause roles stress and burnout for nurses. I also agree with you that healthcare organizations often thing about the needs of the organization, money, and often do not consider how their decisions and policies will impact their healthcare staff. When nurses experience role stress and burn out, this can impact the quality of care that nurses are able to provide to patients. “Nurse burnout is associated with increased odds of reporting negative patient outcomes” (Nantsupawat et al., 2016, p. 83). Organizational leaders may not be aware of how their decision and policies impact nurses and ultimately impact the quality of patient care.

Nursing shortages, and high patient to nurse ratios can increase nurse stress and lead to nurse burnout if changes are not implemented to improve these issues. Healthcare leaders may not realize that while these issues may only seem like something that impacts nurses not realizing that nurse stress and burn out can impact patients as well. “Patient satisfaction, patient outcomes, patient safety, and even patient mortality can all be severely impacted by nurse burnout” (Gaines, 2019). Ultimately poor patient experience and outcomes could come back to impact the healthcare organization. Therefore, policies to improve patient care and safety, improve patient to nurse ratios, and improve access to resources needed for patient care need to be implemented by healthcare organizations to ensure that needs are meet for the organization, patients, and nurses.

Resources

Gaines, K. (2019, October 25). Joint Commission Tackles Nurse Burnout in New Report. Nurse.org. https://nurse.org/articles/joint-commission-tackles-nurse-burnout/

Nantsupawat, A., Nantsupawat, R., Kunaviktikul, W., Turale, S., & Poghosyan, L. (2016, January). Nurse burnout, nurse-reported quality of care, and patient outcome in Thai hospitals. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 48(1), 83-90. doi: 10.1111/jnu.12187

Submission and Grading Information

Grading Criteria

To access your rubric:

Week 3 Discussion Rubric

 

Post by Day 3 and Respond by Day 6 of Week 3

To participate in this Discussion:

Week 3 Discussion

 

Module 2: Professionalism (Week 3)

Laureate Education (Producer). (2018). Moral Leadership [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

  • Analyze the impact of competing needs of workforce, resources, and patients on policy development
  • Analyze the impact of competing needs on healthcare issues/stressors
  • Analyze policies and practices for healthcare issues/stressors
  • Critique organizational policies and practices for ethical considerations
  • Recommend policy or practice changes to balance competing needs and ethical considerations
Due By Assignment
Week 3, Days 1–2 Read the Learning Resources.
Compose your initial Discussion post.
Week 3, Day 3 Post your initial Discussion post.
Begin to compose your Assignment.
Week 3, Days 4-5 Review peer Discussion posts.
Compose your peer Discussion responses.
Continue to compose your Assignment.
Week 3, Day 6 Post two peer Discussion responses.
Week 3, Day 7 Deadline to submit your assignment.

Photo Credit: on_WAL_CBLE0001_er1_EN.mov – Freeze frame

Learning Resources

Required Readings

 

Required Media

Laureate Education (Producer). (2012). Ethical, Moral, and Legal Leadership [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2009b). Working with Individuals [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Rubric Detail

Select Grid View or List View to change the rubric’s layout.

Content

Name: NURS_6053_Module02_Week03_Discussion_Rubric

  Excellent Good Fair Poor
Main Posting Points Range: 45 (45%) – 50 (50%)

Answers all parts of the discussion question(s) expectations with reflective critical analysis and synthesis of knowledge gained from the course readings for the module and current credible sources.

 

Supported by at least three current, credible sources.

 

Written clearly and concisely with no grammatical or spelling errors and fully adheres to current APA manual writing rules and style.

Points Range: 40 (40%) – 44 (44%)

Responds to the discussion question(s) and is reflective with critical analysis and synthesis of knowledge gained from the course readings for the module.

 

At least 75% of post has exceptional depth and breadth.

 

Supported by at least three credible sources.

 

Written clearly and concisely with one or no grammatical or spelling errors and fully adheres to current APA manual writing rules and style.

Points Range: 35 (35%) – 39 (39%)

Responds to some of the discussion question(s).

 

One or two criteria are not addressed or are superficially addressed.

 

Is somewhat lacking reflection and critical analysis and synthesis.

 

Somewhat represents knowledge gained from the course readings for the module.

 

Post is cited with two credible sources.

 

Written somewhat concisely; may contain more than two spelling or grammatical errors.

 

Contains some APA formatting errors.

Points Range: 0 (0%) – 34 (34%)

Does not respond to the discussion question(s) adequately.

 

Lacks depth or superficially addresses criteria.

 

Lacks reflection and critical analysis and synthesis.

 

Does not represent knowledge gained from the course readings for the module.

 

Contains only one or no credible sources.

 

Not written clearly or concisely.

 

Contains more than two spelling or grammatical errors.

 

Does not adhere to current APA manual writing rules and style.

Main Post: Timeliness Points Range: 10 (10%) – 10 (10%)

Posts main post by day 3.

Points Range: 0 (0%) – 0 (0%) Points Range: 0 (0%) – 0 (0%) Points Range: 0 (0%) – 0 (0%)

Does not post by day 3.

First Response Points Range: 17 (17%) – 18 (18%)

Response exhibits synthesis, critical thinking, and application to practice settings.

 

Responds fully to questions posed by faculty.

 

Provides clear, concise opinions and ideas that are supported by at least two scholarly sources.

 

Demonstrates synthesis and understanding of learning objectives.

 

Communication is professional and respectful to colleagues.

 

Responses to faculty questions are fully answered, if posed.

 

Response is effectively written in standard, edited English.

Points Range: 15 (15%) – 16 (16%)

Response exhibits critical thinking and application to practice settings.

 

Communication is professional and respectful to colleagues.

 

Responses to faculty questions are answered, if posed.

 

Provides clear, concise opinions and ideas that are supported by two or more credible sources.

 

Response is effectively written in standard, edited English.

Points Range: 13 (13%) – 14 (14%)

Response is on topic and may have some depth.

 

Responses posted in the discussion may lack effective professional communication.

 

Responses to faculty questions are somewhat answered, if posed.

 

Response may lack clear, concise opinions and ideas, and a few or no credible sources are cited.

Points Range: 0 (0%) – 12 (12%)

Response may not be on topic and lacks depth.

 

Responses posted in the discussion lack effective professional communication.

 

Responses to faculty questions are missing.

 

No credible sources are cited.

Second Response Points Range: 16 (16%) – 17 (17%)

Response exhibits synthesis, critical thinking, and application to practice settings.

 

Responds fully to questions posed by faculty.

 

Provides clear, concise opinions and ideas that are supported by at least two scholarly sources.

 

Demonstrates synthesis and understanding of learning objectives.

 

Communication is professional and respectful to colleagues.

 

Responses to faculty questions are fully answered, if posed.

 

Response is effectively written in standard, edited English.

Points Range: 14 (14%) – 15 (15%)

Response exhibits critical thinking and application to practice settings.

 

Communication is professional and respectful to colleagues.

 

Responses to faculty questions are answered, if posed.

 

Provides clear, concise opinions and ideas that are supported by two or more credible sources.

 

Response is effectively written in standard, edited English.

Points Range: 12 (12%) – 13 (13%)

Response is on topic and may have some depth.

 

Responses posted in the discussion may lack effective professional communication.

 

Responses to faculty questions are somewhat answered, if posed.

 

Response may lack clear, concise opinions and ideas, and a few or no credible sources are cited.

Points Range: 0 (0%) – 11 (11%)

Response may not be on topic and lacks depth.

 

Responses posted in the discussion lack effective professional communication.

 

Responses to faculty questions are missing.

 

No credible sources are cited.

Participation Points Range: 5 (5%) – 5 (5%)

Meets requirements for participation by posting on three different days.

Points Range: 0 (0%) – 0 (0%) Points Range: 0 (0%) – 0 (0%) Points Range: 0 (0%) – 0 (0%)

Does not meet requirements for participation by posting on 3 different days.

Total Points: 100

Name: NURS_6053_Module02_Week03_Discussion_Rubric

RE: Discussion – Week 3

Response one: Organizational Policies and Practices to Support Healthcare Issues

Hello Chelsea Davis,

            You are absolutely correct regarding your statement of the nurse-to-patient ratio. This favor has a direct effect on patient outcome, quality of care, and cost containment.  The business model of healthcare focuses on profitability rather than the patient. One factor that healthcare organizations thrive on is patient experience.

  Richter & Muhlestein (2017) states that patient experience directly impacts hospitals financially since it was initiated by the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services in 2013. The author explained that this method was set to reward or punish organizations based on performance on various measures, including patient experience. So, essentially positive patient experience equates increased profitability; comparably, negative experiences are associated with decreased profitability. Therefore, if hospitals would like to improve their profitability, it is curial to have a safe staffing ratio.

According to Richter & Muhlestein (2017), studies indicate the closure of rural hospitals has accelerated. In 2013-2014 the number of rural, short-term acute hospital closures had doubled compared to data in 2011-2012. This unfortunate situation has left 1.7 million individuals at greater risk of poor health and economic hardship—one contributing factor is difficulty recruiting and retaining health care professionals.

References

Kaufman, B. G., Thomas, S. R., Randolph, R. K., Perry, J. R., Thompson, K. W., Holmes, G. M., & Pink, G. H. (2015). The rising rate of rural hospital closures. The Journal of Rural Health, 32(1), 35–43. https://doi.org/10.1111/jrh.12128

Richter, J. P., & Muhlestein, D. B. (2017). Patient experience and hospital profitability: Is there a link? Health Care Management Review, 42(3), 247–257. https://doi.org/10.1097/hmr.0000000000000105

Nurses continue to be challenged to provide quality nursing care while resources are chipped away causing tensions, strains, and ethical conflicts (Kelly & Porr 2018). The competing needs of healthcare have a big impact on policy development. Organizations often consider their financial needs versus the needs of their healthcare professionals to provide safe, quality care. As the business model of healthcare focuses mostly on cost-savings rather than patient outcomes, the needs of the workforce are set aside.

Nurse staffing and appropriate nurse-patient ratios are critical to optimizing the quality of patient care, improving care outcomes, and long-term cost containment (American Nurses Association n.d.). Improved workloads greatly benefit nurses by preventing burnout and fatigue and allowing them to provide safe, quality care to the full extent of their expertise. However, the competing needs of healthcare require that an organization’s financial needs are considered when it comes to policies associated with safe staffing. Although adequate nurse staffing is crucial in terms of quality of patient care and nursing outcomes, hospitals facing financial uncertainty have sought to reduce nurse staffing as a method to increase profitability (Everhart et al., 2015). These competing healthcare needs and cost-cutting measures have negatively impacted nurse staffing and workload.

The recent nursing shortages and ineffective policies to increase the nursing supply necessitate the need for further interventions to ensure improved staffing levels (Everhart et al., 2015). Healthcare policies associated with nurse staffing should address both the financial needs of the organization and the needs of its workforce. Nurse staffing policies may initially contribute to increasing costs for healthcare organizations. However, cost savings and profitability, in the long run, are achieved through improved productivity, such as a reduction in adverse events, decreased length of stay, and more efficient care processes (Everhart et al., 2015). As the needs for safe staffing are burdened by limited financial resources, nurses must advocate for policies that address both the need for safe, quality care and improved financial outcomes.

References:

American Nurses Association. (n.d.). Nurse staffing. Retrieved February 28, 2021, from https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/nurse-staffing/

Everhart, D., Neff, D., Al-Amin, M., Nogle, J., & Weech-Maldonado, R. (2015, August 20). The effects of nurse staffing on hospital financial performance: Competitive versus less competitive markets. Retrieved March 12, 2021, from

Kelly, P., & Porr, C. (2018). Ethical nursing care versus cost containment: Considerations to enhance RN practice. OJIN: Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 23(1), Manuscript 6. Doi:10.3912/OJIN.Vol123No01Man06. Retrieved from

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