Health Care Reform Nursing Assignment Sample Paper
Although the current U.S. health care delivery system offers undeniable benefits, according to many, the negatives are becoming increasingly unacceptable to greater numbers of people. Rising costs, consumer activism, and a changing model of health care delivery are driving health care reform. The movement to reform health care has stimulated great political and social interest, promoting debate and action at local, state, and federal levels. Those in the nursing profession can play a pivotal role in the reform movement.
This week, you will consider the role of nurses as leaders in health care reform as you examine the Institute of Medicine’s recommendations for areas in which nursing education and training need to be strengthened to better prepare nurses to be effective leaders.
Learning Objectives
Students will:
Evaluate the current state of research efforts on the Institute of Medicine’s priorities for transforming nursing leadership
As health care delivery in the United States continues to evolve, either through mandates, improved technologies and training, or other drivers, nurses remain at the forefront in facilitating the success of new initiatives. In 2010, the Institute of Medicine formed a committee of experts to address the following question: “What roles can nursing assume to address the increasing demand for safe, high-quality, and effective health care services?” In the final report of the committee, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, the authors stated:
This report offers recommendations that collectively serve as a blueprint to (1) ensure that nurses can practice to the full extent of their education and training, (2) improve nursing education, (3) provide opportunities for nurses to assume leadership positions and to serve as full partners in health care redesign and improvement efforts, and (4) improve data collection for workforce planning and policy making. (p. 10)
For this Discussion, you will focus on the research recommendations presented by the committee concerning the role of nurses as leaders. The committee members believe that answers to these research questions are needed to advance the profession of nursing and to further expand their role in health care reform and improvement.
Health Care Reform Nursing Sample Paper
To prepare:
Review Chapter 7 in The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health report provided in the Learning Resources. Focus on the information in Box 7.3, “Research Priorities for Transforming Nursing Leadership.”
Select one of the research priorities listed in Box 7.3 that is of particular interest to you and applicable to your career interests. Consider the benefits and challenges of researching and addressing this priority in nursing.
Using the Walden library, identify two to three current articles that address your selected research priority. Consider the current state of research efforts on this priority.
Reflect on how the research findings for your area of priority impact nurses as leaders in organizations and health care reform. Why is research on this priority important?
Required Readings
Knickman, J. R., & Kovner, A. R. (Eds.). (2015). Health care delivery in the united states (11th ed.). New York, NY: Springer Publishing.
Chapter 6, “Public Health: A Transformation for the 21st Century” (pp. 108–117)
This section of Chapter 6 outlines the roles of various government health agencies, as well as the powers and responsibilities of state versus federal institutions.
Chapter 12, “Health Care Costs and Value” (pp. 253–295)
Chapter 16, “The Future of Health Care Delivery and Health Policy” (pp. 333–342)
These chapters relate the recent history of health care reform in the United States, beginning with the federal health reform struggles in the 1990s and leading up to the passage of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.
National Academy of Sciences. (2011). The future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health.
Institute of Medicine of the National Academies (2011). The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health. Copyright 2011 by the National Academies Press. Reprinted by permission.
Chapter 4, “Transforming Education”
Read Chapters 4 and 7, as they will inform the Week 2 Discussion. Chapter 4 addresses the “key message” that nurses should obtain high levels of education and training through a better education system that encourages continuous academic progression, and it reviews various levels of nursing education, from undergraduate and graduate programs to the professional setting.
National Academy of Sciences. (2011). The future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health.
Institute of Medicine of the National Academies (2011). The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health. Copyright 2011 by the National Academies Press. Reprinted by permission.
Chapter 7, “Recommendations and Research Priorities”
Read Chapters 4 and 7, as they will inform the Week 2 Discussion. Chapter 7 supplies context surrounding the recommendations of the Committee on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing. The chapter specifies the committee’s scope and focus, the evidence that supports its recommendations, the costs associated with the recommendations, and methods of implementing recommendations.
Responsible Reform for the Middle Class. (n.d.) The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Retrieved from http://dpc.senate.gov/healthreformbill/healthbill04.pdf
This website provides a full summary and updates on the state of the Senate’s health bill.
Sample solution to Health Care Reform assignment
Paper type: Research Paper
Course Level: Master
Subject Area: Nursing
# Pages: 4
The United States’ healthcare industry is one of those fields that have recorded significant reforms in the last decade. Although nurses have historically been charged with the responsibility of delivering care to patients, it is important to recognize that they play an important role in promoting change in the industry (Knickman & Kovner, 2015). According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) (2010), there is a great need for a comprehensive nursing education and training as it will act as a good strategy for strengthening and preparing nurses to become effective leaders in future. In order to achieve this goal, the IOM has recommended a number of research priorities that leaders in the healthcare industry should execute for meaningful transformations in nursing leadership to be realized. The organization believes that by answering these questions, the nursing profession will improve and expand. The research priority which has been chosen for purposes of completing this paper is “Identification of the skills and knowledge most critical to leaders of healthcare organizations, such as accountable care organizations, health care homes, medical homes, and clinics (Institute of Medicine, 2010, p. 277).”
Many authors have conducted investigations with the aim of obtaining answers to the research priorities proposed by the IOM (2010). The current state of research efforts on the chosen priority indicates that professionals in the nursing field, and in the healthcare industry as a whole, have conducted investigations with the aim of identifying the knowledge and skills that should be possessed by leaders of contemporary healthcare organizations. The specific health care facilities which are being referred to in this case include clinics, medical homes, accountable care organizations, and health care homes. The three current articles that address the research priority under discussion are publications by Slipicevic and Masic (2012), Premji and Hatfield (2016), and Bayer et al. (2017).
According to Slipicevic and Masic (2012), healthcare organizations continue to operate in an environment that is characterized by rapid transformation and change. This implies that nurse leaders must possess relevant management skills that will enable them to identify complex problems and propose the most appropriate solutions for them. In order to address their hypothesis, the researchers have conducted an investigation with the aim of identifying basic training and educational needs for contemporary healthcare managers. From the study, the authors of this article have concluded that today’s healthcare practitioners need a high level of education as this will equip them with relevant knowledge and skills for managing complex healthcare organizations. These research findings impact nurses as leaders and reformers in the healthcare industry in one major way. Precisely, from the results documented by Slipicevic and Masic (2012), nurse leaders are able to learn that they should seek to gain high levels of education from relevant academic institutions with the aim of acquiring concrete managerial competencies that will enable them to make meaningful reforms in their organizations.
In a similar study, Premji and Hatfield (2016) have conducted an investigation with the aim of establishing some of the ways through which nurses can take part in influencing healthcare reform. According to the researchers, nurses should use their collaborative skills to influence and guide their colleagues through policy formulation and implementation. Besides, their goal should be to promote the well-being of the entire community by working hard to embrace the notion of “One World, One Health.” Furthermore, Premji and Hatfield (2016) have found that educational programs in the nursing field should be devised to train nurses on issues that appertain to the management of international healthcare organizations. Based on their findings, they have concluded that nurses should be brokers and co-creators of knowledge for them to be able to apply a collaborative and equitable approach to management of healthcare facilities. These findings impact nurses as leaders and reformers by influencing them to engage in two-way learning and reverse innovation in order to acquire necessary skills and knowledge for managing global healthcare organizations.
Nursing paper writers are available to help
As Bayer et al. (2017) point out, healthcare professionals need adequate training for them to develop a comprehensive understanding of health policy and their role in promoting health care reforms. The researchers have extensively engaged in research to establish skills and knowledge that nurses should possess for them to effectively manage complex healthcare organizations. The three objectives that they have tried to achieve in their study include; to examine specific educational needs for nursing leaders, to establish policy-related areas that nurse managers need to be conversant with, and to assess the best training modalities for nursing leaders. In order to address their hypothesis, the researchers have collected their data from members of a focus group using the Health Policy Leaders’ Training Needs Assessment tool. They have found that nurse leaders must possess effective communication skills for them to guide their organizations towards the right direction. Furthermore, they have revealed that for nurses to influence meaningful reforms in their organizations, they must possess the knowledge that intersects between politics and reforms. These findings impact nurses as leaders and reformers by informing them that they need to obtain relevant training that will enable them to acquire knowledge and skills to influence healthcare policy reforms (Bayer et al., 2017).
Researchers in the nursing industry should embark on comprehensive investigations with the aim of obtaining answers to the IOM research priority which states, “Identification of the skills and knowledge most critical to leaders of healthcare organizations, such as accountable care organizations, health care homes, medical homes, and clinics (Institute of Medicine, 2010, p. 277).” Research on this priority is important in three major ways. First, it will generate findings that will guide nurse to practices by fully applying the knowledge and skills that they acquired through education and training. Second, the information that will be gathered through such studies will be used to improve nursing education as a way of preparing nurses to become active reformers. Third, by conducting research on the priority under discussion, the investigators will provide nurses with an opportunity to identify their training needs as far as effective management of healthcare organizations is concerned. Fourth, such studies should be encouraged because they will provide data that will be relevant for policy making and for reform planning in relation to healthcare leadership and management (Institute of Medicine, 2010).
To sum everything up, nurses have an important role to play in influencing healthcare reform. The Institute of Medicine has outlined a number of recommendations that professionals in the healthcare industry should implement to improve nursing leadership. Besides, it has listed the research priorities that the researchers should focus to enhance expansion and growth of the nursing profession. The area of research that should be targeted with a matter of urgency is “Identification of the skills and knowledge most critical to leaders of healthcare organizations, such as accountable care organizations, health care homes, medical homes, and clinics (Institute of Medicine, 2010, p. 277).” Various authors have carried out investigations with the aim of findings answers that can guide nursing leadership and reforms. Research on this priority should be encouraged because it will generate data that will guide nurses to acquire relevant knowledge and skills which are most crucial for effective healthcare management and reforms.
References
Bayer, C., Smith, L., Darko, R., McKool, M., Yan, F. & Heiman, H. (2017). Understanding health policy leaders’ training needs. PLoSE ONE, 12(3), e0174054. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0174054
Institute of Medicine. (2010). The future of nursing: Leading Change, advancing health. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Knickman, J. R., & Kovner, A. R. (Eds.). (2015). Health care delivery in the united states (11th ed.). New York, NY: Springer Publishing.
Premji, S. & Hatfield, J. (2016). Call to action for nurses/nursing. BioMed Research International, 2016, 3127543. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0174054
Slipicevic, O. & Masic, I. (2012). Management knowledge and skills required in the health care system of the Federation Bosnia and Herzegovina. Materia Sociomedica, 24(2), 106-111.
