Advocacy Through Legislation

Advocacy Through Legislation

Assessment Description
Nurses often become motivated to change aspects within the larger health care system based on their real-world experience. As such, many nurses take on an advocacy role to influence a change in regulations, policies, and laws that govern the larger health care system.

For this assignment, identify a problem or concern in your state (TEXAS), community, or organization that has the capacity for advocacy through legislation. Research the issue and use the “Advocacy Through Legislation” template to complete this assignment.

You are required to cite a minimum of three sources to complete this assignment. Sources must be published within the last 5 years, appropriate for the assignment criteria, and relevant to nursing practice.

While APA style is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected, and documentation of sources should be presented using APA formatting guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite.
This paper requires the use of the tempplate, must have less than 10% plagiarism report.

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Advocacy Through Legislation

Problem
The number of nurses in the United States today is at an all-time high of approximately 3 million and this number has been on a constant rise over the years. However, with the demand for healthcare in the country rising by a far larger margin, an issue that has prevailed in nursing, and for which this advocacy report is centered is short-staffing. Griffiths et al. (2021) have indicated in their article that it is projected that by the next decade in 2032, the number of nurses will be in the neighborhood of 4 million. Texas is the second-most populous state in the country and has its unique challenges in healthcare. Key among this as noted by Glette et al. (2018) is a shortage of nursing staff. This issue is compounded by the tendency of healthcare providers to be concerned more about the provision of quality care thereby ignoring the plight of the nurse practitioners. This position is what has prompted this advocacy policy to be written and proposed for possible implementation. Working with teams of nurses that is overworked poses huge risks to patients and the reputation of the organization (Suresh, 2018). Some of the risks that are directly associated with short-staffing in nursing are an increase in the number of human errors, high morbidity, lack of motivation, fatigue, and also high staff turnover as registered nurses seek alternative places of work or sources of livelihood.
Idea for Addressing Solution
Motivated by the current short-staffing in Texas and the country at large, there is a need for a federal nurse-to-patient ratio to be set. This would safeguard both the interests of the healthcare providers, the interests and well-being of the registered nurses, and by extension patients as this would drive towards improved patient outcomes. It is suggested that a federal policy that sets a minimum ratio of nurses to patients is set because, in states like Texas, California and Florida are very high (Glette et al., 2018). The benefit of federal legislation on the number of patients that a nurse can handle will go a long way in forcing healthcare organizations to provide sufficient and appropriate resources to ensure that these standards are met. Texas like many other states namely Connecticut, Florida, California, and many others has endeavored to put in place state-level standards on the appropriate number of nurses per patient. However, these have realized the intended results on a national level further justifying the need for federal legislation to be instituted. BUY A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE
Research the Issue
Evidence 1	There is research that was recently conducted by Glette et al. (2018) and important issues were focused on. The importance of legislation that aims at improving the quality of care on a national level. On this issue, the researchers argued that the core objective for healthcare providers is to improve the health outcomes of patients and one key way of doing this is ensuring that nursing staff is motivated and committed to their work. Standardizing the ratio of nurses to patients is one guaranteed area that can be used to realize this.
Evidence 2	This second article claims that a standardized ratio between nurses and patients helps reduce short staffing in hospitals. The most notable impacts of doing this as Griffithset al. (2021) found in their article are improved quality of care and the reputation of the provider. The article further lauds efforts made by states like Texas, New Jersey, and California in addressing the issue of short staffing but were fast to argue for federal legislation as this would make the laws more enforcing and impactful.
Stakeholder Support
Stakeholder(s) Supporting 1	The internal stakeholder that would definitely welcome and supports federal legislation advocating for a minimum ratio of nurses to patients is the nurses. There would be increased motivation for them and a work-home balance would be improved.
Stakeholder(s) Supporting 2	The administration would as well support such legislation as it would help make their work easier. This is in the sense that they would be able to balance care provision with the welfare of the registered nurses. Since the nurses would not be overwhelmed, the milestones set for the nursing department would be met with more ease and with less conflict.
Stakeholder Opposition
Stakeholder(s) Opposed 1	The directors of the healthcare provider would not be too keen on federal or state legislation seeking to standardize the number of patients that a nurse can handle at a time. This is from an awareness that this would place strain on financial resources by a rise in demand for more nurses to be hired and this would then be coupled with a need to reduce the number of work each one of them work.
Stakeholder(s) Opposed 2	Patients would likely be faced with an increase in costs for medical care as a result if the federal legislation. As the healthcare organization are faced with an increase in costs of care provision, chances are that the incremental cost of care and production would be transferred to medical are. What this means is that in the longer term, a proportion of the population would be unable to afford healthcare and perhaps even proposed by such a legislation.
Financial Incentives/Costs
The federal or state law enacted to address and standardize the short staffing issue would be a win-win for the nurses, the organization and patients (Suresh, 2018). From a financial perspective, the organization would be saved financial resources that are used to replace outgoing staff and training new ones. However, this would only be achieved in the immediate long-term as the new policy would require more nurses to be hired and trained to meet the set standards.
Legislature: Information Needed and Process for Proposal
Provide the name and complete contact information for the legislator.		The sitting legislator who will be handed the current proposed advocacy report is Senator Jane Nelson,  a Republican who has been a senate member for close to two decades now and is from Flower Mound.
Describe the steps for how you would present this to your legislator.		I would have the proposed advocacy brief and have it presented to the local legislator. They would then be looked through by the said legislator with the recommendations and proposals detailed followed by any necessary revisions or additions. It is through the position of the policymaker that the proposal would be presented to the house or congress for discussion and debate.
Outline the process if your legislator chooses to introduce your idea as a bill to congress.		The proposed advocacy report would be documented in readiness for presentation and reading in congress or the house. Acting as the sponsor of the documented bill, the policymaker would in the allocated time read out the contents of the bill to the house of congress followed by proposed changes, amendments or additions. If passed by either houses, it would stand to be signed into law.
Christian Principles and Nursing Advocacy
Christianity evangelizes the importance of good health among people and high quality nursing care would help achieve this. At the same time, these Christian principles also advocate for fairness and justice for all parties involved in working towards a health population and nation. BUY A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

 

References

Glette, M. K., Røise, O., Kringeland, T., Churruca, K., Braithwaite, J., & Wiig, S. (2018). Nursing home leaders’ and nurses’ experiences of resources, staffing and competence levels and the relation to hospital readmissions–a case study. BMC health services research, 18(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-018-3769-3

Griffiths, P., Saville, C., Ball, J. E., Jones, J., Monks, T., & Safer Nursing Care Tool study team. (2021). Beyond ratios-flexible and resilient nurse staffing options to deliver cost-effective hospital care and address staff shortages: A simulation and economic modelling study. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 117, 103901. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2021.103901

Suresh, S. (2018). Nursing research and statistics. Elsevier Health Sciences.