NR 717 Population Health Learnings Discussion Essay

NR 717 Population Health Learnings Discussion Essay

Healthcare is often faced with issues that require changes in healthcare policy. Nurses, among the relevant healthcare policy stakeholders, require political competence to address the issues or propose solutions. According to Cervera-Gasch et al. (2022), nursing political competence refers to a set of skills, values, and perspectives nurses should possess for effective political participation. This discussion presents a reflection on an issue related to health policy in my local region and the results of addressing the issue. It also proposes an area in my political competency that requires development and the action I can take to become more politically competent, thus addressing the issue in the selected population.

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Drug pricing is one of the healthcare policy-related issues that called for healthcare policy change in my local community. There has been an increase in the cost of medications, leading to an increase in the overall cost of healthcare services. I worked with other healthcare providers in my institution and other healthcare organizations to propose solutions to address the issue. We formed an activist group and proposed a policy change in the drug market that reduced uncompetitive practices, thus producing positive results. The results entailed reducing drug prices, making them more affordable, and reducing the cost of care.

The area of my political competence that needs further development and action for me to become more politically competent while working with the selected population is creating opportunities through networking. Shahid et al. (2019) note that networking is crucial while proposing policies or policy changes. Networks highlight opportunities for collective initiatives and enhance collective persuasion in collective policy change initiatives (Lehmbruch, 2019). The action I will take to enhance my networking skills and improve my political competence is actively developing and maintaining relationships. I will use formal and casual interactions to develop relationships that will increase trust in working together, thus promoting networks and collective action.

Nurses must have Political competence while participating in health activism or initiatives regarding health policy and policy change. Networking and identifying opportunities through networks is one of the vital areas in political competence. Nurses should identify weak areas in their political competence, and work on improving them, for better participation in healthcare policy.

References

Cervera-Gasch, Á., Mena-Tudela, D., Castro-Sánchez, E., Santillan-Garcia, A., Andreu-Pejó, L., & González-Chordá, V. M. (2022). Necessary political competencies for nurses from the perception of the student body: Cross-sectional study in Spain. Nurse Education Today, 109, 105229. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2021.105229

Lehmbruch, G. (2019). The organization of society, administrative strategies, and policy networks: Elements of a developmental theory of interest systems. In Political Choice (pp. 121-158). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429302145-5

Shahid, N., Rappon, T., & Berta, W. (2019). Applications of artificial neural networks in health care organizational decision-making: A scoping review. PloS one, 14(2), e0212356. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212356

 

Week 5 Healthcare Policy

Discussion

Purpose

The purpose of this discussion is to reflect on opportunities to impact healthcare policies while further developing your own political competency using Warner’s article (2003) as a guide.

Instructions

Read the Warner (2003) article (located in Student Learning Resources). Reflect upon the development of your political competency and address the following:

Consider a time when there was an issue related to healthcare policy in your local, regional, or national community. If you pursued an opportunity to address the issue, describe the results. If you did not pursue the opportunity, describe the reasons.

Propose an area of your political competency that needs further development and an action you could take to become more politically competent to impact your selected population.

Please click on the following link to review the DNP Discussion Guidelines on the Student Resource Center program page:

Link (webpage): DNP Discussion GuidelinesLinks to an external site.