Introduction
Policies in healthcare have an impact on individuals, whether at the institutional, local, state, or federal level. As a profession, nursing has the opportunity to influence health policies on all levels. By understanding healthcare policies, nurses can be advocates for patients as a unified group.
Although the majority of healthcare professionals are nurses, nursing has many opportunities to increase their involvement in healthcare policy. Healthcare and nursing practice are influenced by policy. Policy affects care delivery, patient preferences, and reimbursement. Nurses are in a unique position to influence policy due to the holistic care model and patient-centered care.
For this task, you will analyze a federal and state policy that relates to a current area of focus in healthcare. You will discuss how the federal and state policies influence patient and healthcare delivery. You will consider the population impact of the policies and if the policies are equitable at both the federal and state level.
Your goal in this task is to discuss how a nurse can impact policy at the state and federal level. You should consider the role of the nurse in the development of policy at the state and federal level and how the nurse will support or influence improvements to the policy at each policy level.
Requirements
Your submission must be your original work. No more than a combined total of 30% of the submission and no more than a 10% match to any one individual source can be directly quoted or closely paraphrased from sources, even if cited correctly. The similarity report that is provided when you submit your task can be used as a guide.
You must use the rubric to direct the creation of your submission because it provides detailed criteria that will be used to evaluate your work. Each requirement below may be evaluated by more than one rubric aspect. The rubric aspect titles may contain hyperlinks to relevant portions of the course.
Tasks may not be submitted as cloud links, such as links to Google Docs, Google Slides, OneDrive, etc., unless specified in the task requirements. All other submissions must be file types that are uploaded and submitted as attachments (e.g., .docx, .pdf, .ppt).
A. Compare public healthcare policies at the federal and state level that affect the provision of patient care and healthcare delivery by doing the following:
1. Describe one federal and one state public healthcare policy that affect the provision of patient care and healthcare delivery.
2. Explain how each policy works (e.g., Is it mandatory? Will enforcement be necessary? Who is responsible for administering the policy?).
3. Discuss each policy’s impact on the population(s) by answering the following questions:
• What populations will benefit?
• How will they benefit?
• What populations will be negatively impacted?
• How will they be impacted?
• Does the policy impact health disparities and health equity?
4. Discuss the evidence that informs each policy, including two scholarly evidence sources published within the last five years to support your discussion.
a. Discuss whether the evidence identified in part A4 supports the chosen policies, including any modifications that should be made to each policy based on the identified evidence.
B. Explain the role of the nurse in policy development and how the nurse could impact the administration of, or the revision of, a policy at both federal and state levels.
1. Reflect on barriers to the nurse’s engagement in each of the following healthcare policy areas:
• development
• administration
• revision
2. Reflect on ways that you will engage with healthcare policy in each of the following areas in your future nursing practice:
• development
• administration
• revision
C. Acknowledge sources, using in-text citations and references, for content that is quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.
D. Demonstrate professional communication in the content and presentation of your submission.
Rubric
A1:Federal and State Public Healthcare Policy
Not Evident: A description of 2 public healthcare policies is not provided.
Approaching Competence: The description of 1 federal or 1 state public healthcare policy does not accurately address the policy level or does not include the source for 1 or both public healthcare policies.
Competent: The description accurately addresses 1 federal and 1 state public healthcare policy and includes the source for both public healthcare policies.
A2:Public Healthcare Policy Process
Not Evident: An explanation of how the selected healthcare policies from part A1 work is not provided.
Approaching Competence: The explanation does not thoroughly address how the federal or state public healthcare policy from part A1 works. Or the explanation does not provide relevant details from each policy.
Competent: The explanation thoroughly addresses how each of the public healthcare policies from part A1 works, with relevant details from each policy.
A3:Policy Impact on Population(s)
Not Evident: A discussion of the impact each policy has on the population(s) is not provided.
Approaching Competence: The discussion does not address the impact each policy has on the population(s) by answering each of the 5 given questions, or 1 or more of the answers are illogical.
Competent: The discussion addresses the impact each policy has on the population(s) by logically answering each of the 5 given questions.
A4:Evidence That Informs Policy
Not Evident: A discussion of evidence that informs the policies is not provided.
Approaching Competence: The discussion of the evidence that informs each policy is not logical, or the discussion does not include 2 credible scholarly evidence sources, or 1 or both sources were not published within the last 5 years.
Competent: The discussion of the evidence that informs each policy is logical, and the discussion is supported by 2 credible scholarly evidence sources that were both published within the last 5 years.
A4a:Evidence Supporting Policy
Not Evident: A discussion of whether the evidence from part A4 supports the policies is not provided.
Approaching Competence: The discussion of whether the evidence identified in part A4 supports the policies is illogical, or specific examples are not included. Or the discussion does not include any modifications that should be made to each policy based on the identified evidence, or 1 or more modifications are not reasonably based on the evidence.
Competent: The discussion of whether the evidence identified in part A4 supports the policies is logical and includes specific examples. The discussion includes any reasonable modifications that should be made to each policy based on the identified evidence.
B:Role of the Nurse in Policy Development
Not Evident: The submission does not explain the role of the nurse in policy development.
Approaching Competence: The submission does not logically explain the role of the nurse in policy development or provide specific supporting examples. Or the submission does not logically explain how nurses could impact the administration of, or the revision of, a policy at federal or state levels.
Competent: The submission logically explains the role of the nurse in policy development, including specific supporting examples. The submission logically explains how nurses could impact the administration of, or the revision of, a policy at both federal and state levels.
B1:Nursing Barriers
Not Evident: The submission does not reflect on barriers to the nurse’s engagement.
Approaching Competence: The submission reflecting on barriers to the nurse’s engagement does not address 1 or more of the given healthcare policy areas. Or the reflection is not relevant or does not include examples.
Competent: The submission reflects on barriers to the nurse’s engagement for all 3 of the given healthcare policy areas. The reflection is relevant and includes examples.
B2:Nursing Engagement
Not Evident: The submission does not reflect on ways the candidate will engage in future nursing practice.
Approaching Competence: The submission does not reflect on the ways the candidate will engage with healthcare policy in 1 or more of the given areas in future nursing practice. Or any of the given ways to engage are irrelevant to future nursing practice, or the reflection is not supported with specific examples.
Competent: The submission reflects on the ways the candidate will engage with healthcare policy in all 3 of the given areas in future nursing practice. The given ways to engage are relevant to the future nursing practice, and the reflection is supported with specific examples.
C:Sources
Not Evident: The submission does not include both in-text citations and a reference list for sources that are quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.
Approaching Competence: The submission includes in-text citations for sources that are quoted, paraphrased, or summarized and a reference list; however, the citations or reference list is incomplete or inaccurate.
Competent: The submission includes in-text citations for sources that are properly quoted, paraphrased, or summarized and a reference list that accurately identifies the author, date, title, and source location as available.
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