NURS 6053 Discussion Review of Current Healthcare Issues Example Solution Included
If you were to ask 10 people what they believe to be the most significant issue facing healthcare today, you might get 10 different answers. Escalating costs? Regulation? Technology disruption?
These and many other topics are worthy of discussion. Not surprisingly, much has been said in the research, within the profession, and in the news about these topics. Whether they are issues of finance, quality, workload, or outcomes, there is no shortage of changes to be addressed.
In this Discussion, you examine a national healthcare issue and consider how that issue may impact your work setting. You also analyze how your organization has responded to this issue.
To Prepare:
- Review the Resources and select one current national healthcare issue/stressor to focus on.
- Reflect on the current national healthcare issue/stressor you selected and think about how this issue/stressor may be addressed in your work setting.
BY DAY 3 OF WEEK 1
Post a description of the national healthcare issue/stressor you selected for analysis, and explain how the healthcare issue/stressor may impact your work setting. Then, describe how your health system work setting has responded to the healthcare issue/stressor, including a description of what changes may have been implemented. Be specific and provide examples.
By Day 6 of Week 1
Respond to at least
two of your colleagues
on two different days who chose a different national healthcare issue/stressor than you selected. Explain how their chosen national healthcare issue/stressor may also impact your work setting and what (if anything) is being done to address the national healthcare issue/stressor.
NURS 6053 Discussion Review of Current Healthcare Issues Example Approach
I currently work as regional manager for a large company that oversees doctors’ offices. One of the main issues that affect us greatly is the rising cost of medication and patient compliance. There are many reasons healthcare cost rise. One reason is “The way the system is structured now, it is a cure-driven system, not a prevention-driven system,” (Morabito 2022) This statement means that we focus on fixing a problem rather than preventing the problem.
My company has created a new position within the company to monitor patients and to ensure the follow up in office for preventative procedures. The position is care managers the care managers call patients routinely monitoring for any disease exacerbation, schedule them for follow up appointments after ER, or hospital stays, and routine visits. It is said that the benefits of preventive health care are narrowly defined in terms of reductions in future morbidity and mortality.
Thus it is normally assumed that it is the final health gains alone which bear utility (Salkeld). If patients are diligent about frequenting their physician offices to get routine test, labs and procedures as well as maintaining a balanced diet many health disparities will ne prevented. Getting preventive care reduces the risk for diseases, disabilities, and death — yet millions of people in the United States don’t get recommended preventive health care services (Borsky).
Borksy, A., et al. (2018). Few Americans Receive All High-Priority, Appropriate Clinical Preventive Services. Health Affairs, 37(6). DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2017.1248
Charlotte Morabito February 28, 2022 “Why health-care costs are rising in the U.S. more than anywhere else” retrieved on November 28, 2022 from
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/28/why-health-care-costs-are-rising-in-the-us-more-than-anywhere-else-.htmlLinks to an external site.
Salkeld G. (1998). What are the benefits of preventive health care?. Health care analysis : HCA : journal of health philosophy and policy, 6(2), 106–112. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02678116
One of the main healthcare issues right now is nursing shortage. In my current workplace we are often understaffed. I work in a COVID unit and one reason nurses do not stay is staff burnout. Thus, our hospital is hiring travel nurses to fill up these positions and also partnering up with local universities and colleges that offers nursing programs to encourage new graduates to apply at the hospital in exchange of loan reimbursement. The same is offered with current staff that wants to pursue further education in exchange for a work contract.
First and foremost, hospitals and other health care facilities must immediately invest in retaining our current nursing workforce. Burnout associated with COVID-19 working conditions and post-traumatic stress
disorder is leading to an exodus of nurses. Some nurses are choosing to retire; others are abandoning hometown hospitals for more lucrative traveler positions. Some nurses are leaving the profession altogether (Washington Nurse, 2021).
According to the American Nurses Association (ANA): “By 2022, there will be far more registered nurse jobs available than any other profession, at more than 100,000 per year. With more than 500,000 seasoned RNs anticipated to retire by 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the need for 1.1 million new RNs for expansion and replacement of retirees, and to avoid a nursing shortage.”
In 2014, Thomas Bodenheimer, MD, and Christine Sinsky, MD, published an article reporting that staff burnout and dissatisfaction are associated with lower patient satisfaction, reduced health outcomes, and potentially increased costs. They recommended that organizations adopt the quadruple aim, citing that the fourth aim, improving the work life of health care clinicians and staff, is necessary to achieve the triple aim.
The authors noted that the work environment has a significant impact on employee well-being, and employees with poor well-being were less engaged and more negative about the workplace (Jacobs et al., 2018). Even the most perfectly designed delivery system will become dysfunctional if the leaders of the team lack the energy or desire to effectively carry out their responsibilities. Each staff member should feel fully engaged in support of the healthcare organizational mission. This enhances continuity of care, adding to the momentum of patient engagement.
References
COVID-19 INTENSIFIES THE NATIONAL NURSING SHORTAGE: For years, national nursing leaders and health care experts warned of a looming nursing shortage… Add a global pandemic, and that shortage is here. (2021). Washington Nurse, 51(3), 22–23.
Epperson, W. J., Childs, S. F., & Wilhoit, G. (2021). Provider Burnout and Patient Engagement: The Quadruple and Quintuple Aims. Physician Leadership Journal, 8(2), 72–76.
Jacobs, B., McGovern, J. , Heinmiller, J. & Drenkard, K. (2018). Engaging Employees in Well-Being. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 42 (3), 231-245. doi: 10.1097/NAQ.0000000000000303.
ANALYSIS OF A PERTINENT HEALTHCARE ISSUE
The Quadruple Aim provides broad categories of goals to pursue to maintain and improve healthcare. Within each goal are many issues that, if addressed successfully, may have a positive impact on outcomes. For example, healthcare leaders are being tasked to shift from an emphasis on disease management often provided in an acute care setting to health promotion and disease prevention delivered in primary care settings. Efforts in this area can have significant positive impacts by reducing the need for primary healthcare and by reducing the stress on the healthcare system.
Changes in the industry only serve to stress what has always been true; namely, that the healthcare field has always faced significant challenges, and that goals to improve healthcare will always involve multiple stakeholders. This should not seem surprising given the circumstances. Indeed, when a growing population needs care, there are factors involved such as the demands of providing that care and the rising costs associated with healthcare. Generally, it is not surprising that the field of healthcare is an industry facing multifaceted issues that evolve over time.
In this module’s Discussion, you reviewed some healthcare issues/stressors and selected one for further review. For this Assignment, you will consider in more detail the healthcare issue/stressor you selected. You will also review research that addresses the issue/stressor and
write a white paper to your organization’s leadership that addresses the issue/stressor you selected.
RESOURCES
Be sure to review the Learning Resources before completing this activity.
Click the weekly resources link to access the resources.
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