SU NSG4068 All Weeks Discussions Latest 2019 September

NSG4068 Trends in Healthcare Policy

Week 1 Discussion

Envisioning Yourself
as an Advocate for Nurses and Health Policy

And, so we begin a
very fast-paced and packed course on policy, politics, and nursing. Each of us
has his or her own experiences and interest in advocacy. You may want to start
your journey by reading Savage’s piece from your course textbook. Her chapter
captures her journey and may serve as a primer for your experience these next
few weeks. This week’s readings and assignments will help you to picture
yourself moving in a direction to developing/honing/refining your advocacy
skills.

Answer one of the
following questions:

From the chapter “The
Changing United States Health Care System” in your course textbook, using either
the story of Wald’s efforts to improve the health status of impoverished
immigrant communities or the story of how advanced practice registered nurses
have struggled with their legitimacy within the health care delivery system,
compare your own experience in nursing.

Have there been
challenges you have faced? If so, what strategies did you employ to overcome
these challenges?

How do you envision
your career moving forward in advocating for your patients? Your
community?Yourself?

From your daily
briefs, Kaiser Health News Morning Briefing or POLITICO Pulse.

List the interest
groups that are mentioned in the brief and what their interest is in the piece.

Categorize the issues
in the brief according to the following—politics and politicians, access to
health care, health care insurance, health care legislation, money, drugs, or
other.

NSG4068 Trends in Healthcare Policy

Week 2 Discussion

Social Determinants of
Health

Answer one of the
following questions:

Increasingly, health
policymakers are becoming aware of the social determinants of health and the
role they play in prevention disease and promoting health and wellness. In the
“Frameworks for Action in Policy and Politics” chapter, examine Box 1-1
(Political Aspects of the Social Determinants of Health) and Figure 1-6 (The
Who, What, Where, When, and Why of Nursing’s Policy Influence). Then compare
these with the story about Lilian Wald’s work in New York City. Reflect on the
“what” of Wald’s strategies. In your opinion, which did she use effectively?

Looking further at the
“what” in Figure 1-6 and answer any one of the following questions:

Discuss at least three
competencies/strategies that you have used effectively.

Identify three
competencies/strategies that you don’t currently use and discuss how you might
incorporate them into your advocacy toolbox.

Review the four
recommendations in the IOM report The Future of Nursing: Leading Change,
Advancing Health and find your state’s action coalition. Discuss your state’s
action coalition’s work as it aligns with these four recommendations. Is each
recommendation being addressed? Based on your analysis of the website, how
would you describe your state’s progress toward meeting the IOM
recommendations?

NSG4068 Trends in Healthcare Policy

Week 3 Discussion

The ACA or the AHCA:
Imperfect Solutions to Increasing Access to Health Care?

This week’s discussion
focuses on the federal government’s role in protecting the public’s health
using the ACA and current efforts to “repeal and replace” the ACA. Please note
that the government’s role in protecting the public’s health did not begin with
the ACA. In the late 1800s, Lilian Wald brought health care to the community.
And in 1965, Congress passed bills authorizing Medicare and Medicaid. Since
1965, Congress has expanded government-sponsored health care to pregnant women
and children.

Answer the following
question:

Compare the current
provisions in the ACA with those in the failed first version of the AHCA. Share
your opinions about why the AHCA failed in the first attempt at passage.

Continue to read daily
from one of the policy briefs that are included in your weekly readings list.
POLITICO Pulse is a daily briefing from POLITICO, and the Kaiser Health News
Morning Briefing is a daily briefing from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Both
focus on health care. Either one will keep you abreast of what is happening in
health care policies and politics.

In addition, subscribe
to the “HealthCetera” podcast and listen to the podcast weekly. This
is a production of WBAI, free speech radio of Pacifica Foundation Radio in New
York City. Diana Mason and Barbara Glickstein are founders and codirectors of
the Center for Health Media Policy (CHMP). Both are recognized as experts in
media, nursing, health, and health policy. They have a longstanding
relationship as producers and moderators of HealthCetera, a live, award-winning
radio program on public radio and iTunes. They are bloggers for Disruptive
Women in Health Care and for the American Journal of Nursing (AJN). The CHMP is
an interdisciplinary initiative for advancing the health of the public and
healthy public policies through media, research, education, and public forums.
Listen to the podcast throughout the course and think on the topics that are
discussed, especially as they relate to how we advocate for issues of
importance in this contemporary political environment.

NSG4068 Trends in Healthcare Policy

Week 4 Discussion

Advance Care Planning
and Analysis

Read the section
titled “Reflective Practice: Pants on Fire” from chapter “Health Policy,
Politics, and Professional Ethics” and address the questions below:

How do you judge
Palin’s quote? [“And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick,
the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not
one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in
front of Obama’s death panel so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a
subjective judgment of their level of productivity in society, whether they are
worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.] Effective strategy to
oppose Democrats’ plans for health care reform or unethical scaremongering?

Reflect on what
informs your judgment: commitment to advance care planning, analysis of facts,
and/or political party loyalties?

Is it right for nurses
to endorse health reform legislation even if the legislation is not perfect?
Does this apply to the recently failed American Health Care Act?

NSG4068 Trends in Healthcare Policy

Week 5 Discussion

Nurses as Change Agents
in the Community

In the chapter, “How
Community-Based Organizations Are Addressing Nursing’s Role in Transforming
Health Care,” the authors describe the community as the focus of advocacy
action for change. They list a series of questions that help community teams
develop organizing principles to guide their interventions, and the aim is to
attack social determinants of health to make community change.

Suppose a community
team identifies lack of access to exercise modalities as a public health issue.
If the team were to determine that pedestrian walkways need to be constructed,
discuss at least two factors that would facilitate the development of the
walkways and two that would hinder the development. For the hindrances, discuss
ways that the team might work to overcome those hindrances.

Continue to read daily
from one of the policy briefs that are included in your weekly readings list.
POLITICO Pulse is a daily briefing from POLITICO, and the Kaiser Health News
Morning Briefing is a daily briefing from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Both
focus on health care. Either one will keep you abreast of what is happening in
health care policies and politics.

In addition, subscribe
to the “HealthCetera” podcast and listen to the podcast weekly. This
is a production of WBAI, free speech radio of Pacifica Foundation Radio in New
York City. Diana Mason and Barbara Glickstein are founders and codirectors of
the Center for Health Media Policy (CHMP). Both are recognized as experts in
media, nursing, health, and health policy. They have a longstanding
relationship as producers and moderators of HealthCetera, a live, award-winning
radio program on public radio and iTunes. They are bloggers for Disruptive
Women in Health Care and for the American Journal of Nursing (AJN). The CHMP is
an interdisciplinary initiative for advancing the health of the public and
healthy public policies through media, research, education, and public forums.
Listen to the podcast throughout the course and think on the topics that are
discussed, especially as they relate to how we advocate for issues of
importance in this contemporary political environment.