NURS 6053 Organizational Policies and Practices to Support Healthcare Issues

NURS 6053 Organizational Policies and Practices to Support Healthcare Issues

Organizational Policies and Practices to Support Healthcare Issues

Competing needs with the organization affect policies and practices aimed at improving overall care delivery. These needs may entail workforce concerns, resources, and patients. For instance, workforce needs as an increased level of staff to address workload, training, and compensation as well as resources to fund the purchase of equipment and technology upgrades may compete in healthcare organizations and their development of effective policies. Patients’ needs may include access to quality and affordable care that is patient-centered and considers their dynamic concerns like cultural practices and spirituality (Marquez et al., 2021). As such, these needs are critical and implore healthcare providers to consider their overall effects on policies and practices in dealing with national health issues or stressors like the opioid epidemic.

The opioid epidemic is a national health stressor with several competing needs that can affect the development of policies within an organization. The first need is to tackle this issue as a public health crisis through evidence-based practice interventions. Policies should focus on effective interventions, prevention, and treatment as well as recovery of the affected people (Solberg et al., 2021). Workforce shortage for healthcare providers to offer care to those recovering from the problem is a competing need. Most healthcare settings lack psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners (PMHNPs) and other qualified staff to handle the issue and develop appropriate addiction interventions, especially in rural areas, and among low-income populations and neighborhoods in urban areas (Pérez-Chiqués et al., 2021). Policies and practices should focus on enhancing access to treatment and personnel through specialized training and setting up more facilities, particularly in rural settings to address the issue.

Additionally, the cost of addiction treatment is another aspect of competing needs, especially for low-income individuals and those without medical health coverage. Policies should focus on increasing access to treatment through expanded Medicaid and other funding at the state and federal levels to enhance access to resources at the local level, particularly in rural settings (Solberg et al., 2021). As the federal government expands access to opioid treatment through increased funding to states and territorial authorities, it is critical to also increase allocations to train and deploy sufficient providers to cater to the increasing number of patients (Marquez et al., 2021). A comprehensive approach should consider the needs and concerns of all stakeholders and ensure that their contributions are integrated into developing relevant policies and practices to address the opioid epidemic.

References

Marquez, J. L., Loveluck, J., Marshall, J. K., & Power, L. (2021). Assessing community needs to

combat the opioid epidemic in Washtenaw County, Michigan. Journal Of Public Health Management And Practice, 27(1), S174-S178. DOI: 10.1097/PHH.0000000000001316.

Pérez-Chiqués, E., Strach, P., & Zuber, K. (2021). Competing emergencies: a policy analysis of

the opioid epidemic during COVID-19. Journal Of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice, 23(1), 85-94. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s13753-022-00431-4

Solberg, L. I., Hooker, S. A., Rossom, R. C., Bergdall, A., & Crabtree, B. F. (2021). Clinician

perceptions about a decision support system to identify and manage opioid use disorder. The Journal of The American Board of Family Medicine, 34(6), 1096-1102. DOI: 10.3122/jabfm.2021.06.210126.

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Organizational Policies and Practices to Support Healthcare Issues

Quite often, nurse leaders are faced with ethical dilemmas, such as those associated with choices between competing needs and limited resources. Resources are finite, and competition for those resources occurs daily in all organizations.

For example, the use of 12-hour shifts has been a strategy to retain nurses. However, evidence suggests that as nurses work more hours in a shift, they commit more errors. How do effective leaders find a balance between the needs of the organization and the needs of ensuring quality, effective, and safe patient care?

In this Discussion, you will reflect on a national healthcare issue and examine how competing needs may impact the development of polices to address that issue.

Resources

Be sure to review the Learning Resources before completing this activity.
Click the weekly resources link to access the resources.

WEEKLY RESOURCES

To Prepare:

• Review the Resources and think about the national healthcare issue/stressor you previously selected for study in Module 1.
• Reflect on the competing needs in healthcare delivery as they pertain to the national healthcare issue/stressor you previously examined.

By Day 3 of Week 3

Post an explanation of how competing needs, such as the needs of the workforce, resources, and patients, may impact the development of policy. Then, describe any specific competing needs that may impact the national healthcare issue/stressor you selected. What are the impacts, and how might policy address these competing needs? Be specific and provide examples.

By Day 6 of Week 3

Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days by providing additional thoughts about competing needs that may impact your colleagues’ selected issues, or additional ideas for applying policy to address the impacts described.

NURS_6053_Module02_Week03_Discussion_Rubric