NRSE 6050 Policy and Advocacy for Improving Population Health
NRSE 6050 Week 9 Discussion: The Role of the RN/APRN in Policy Evaluation
Assignment: The Role of the RN/APRN in Policy Evaluation
In the Module 4 Discussion, you considered how professional nurses can become involved in policy-making. A critical component of any policy design is evaluation of the results. How comfortable are you with the thought of becoming involved with such matters?
Some nurses may be hesitant to get involved with policy evaluation. The preference may be to focus on the care and well-being of their patients; some nurses may feel ill-equipped to enter the realm of policy and political activities. However, as you have examined previously, who better to advocate for patients and effective programs and polices than nurses? Already patient advocates in interactions with doctors and leadership, why not with government and regulatory agencies?
In this Discussion, you will reflect on the role of professional nurses in policy evaluation.
To Prepare:
In the Module 4 Discussion, you considered how professional nurses can become involved in policy-making.
Review the Resources and reflect on the role of professional nurses in policy evaluation. Assignment: The Role of the RN/APRN in Policy Evaluation
n this Discussion, you will reflect on the role of professional nurses in policy evaluation.
To Prepare:
- In the Module 4 Discussion, you considered how professional nurses can become involved in policy-making.
- Review the Resources and reflect on the role of professional nurses in policy evaluation.
By Day 3 of Week 9
Post an explanation of at least two opportunities that currently exist for RNs and APRNs to actively participate in policy review. Explain some of the challenges that these opportunities may present and describe how you might overcome these challenges. Finally, recommend two strategies you might make to better advocate for or communicate the existence of these opportunities. Be specific and provide examples.
The Role of Nurses in Policy Evaluation
The process of health policy development ends at the evaluation stage, which involves identifying the effectiveness and relevance of the policies. As Indicated in Stewart, et al., (2020), the ICN (International Council of Nurses) has actively championed the involvement of nurses in the policy development process, right from the beginning to the end. The participation of nurses in health policies helps to safeguard care quality through access to opportunities and required resources. This paper presents the opportunities that presently exist for APRNs/RNs to take part in the policy review actively.
Nurses have excellent communication skills that are useful in policy evaluation; thus increasing the influence nurses have on healthcare policies. Nurses are the closest to patients and gain most of their communication skills from the constant communication they have with their patients and their families (Patton, Zalon, &Ludwick, 2018). Besides, have they advanced skills in advocacy, a quality that puts them in the best position to take part in the process of policy review. Because APRNs/RNs have been known to advocate for their patients, their involvement in policy review will go a long way in removing the old policies that may have failed to conform to new regulations and rules and address new technologies. In amending the existing systems, the opinion of nurses should be taken as the current needs of patients.
These opportunities may, however, present some challenges in evaluating healthcare policies. The nurse may take advantage of their communication skills to review a healthcare policy in favor of their requests or opinions (Potter, et al., 2016). They can also use their advocacy skills to evaluate policies based on their interest or views. Therefore, I would recommend some set of standards that govern how nurses utilize their communication skills to impact healthcare policies. Besides the opinions of nurses when reviewing healthcare policies should first pass through a set committee to evaluate if they are the actual needs of the patients.
References
Patton, R. M., Zalon, M. L., &Ludwick, R. (Eds.). (2018). Nurses making policy: From bedside to boardroom. Springer Publishing Company.
Potter, P. A., Perry, A. G., Stockert, P., & Hall, A. (2016). Fundamentals of Nursing-E-Book. Elsevier health sciences.
Stewart, D., Kennedy, A., Schober, M., & Duignan, M. (2020). International Council of Nurses. In Advanced Practice Nursing Leadership: A Global Perspective (pp. 15-23). Springer, Cham.
By Day 6 of Week 9
Respond to at least two of your colleagues* on two different days by suggesting additional opportunities or recommendations for overcoming the challenges described by your colleagues.
Click on the Reply button below to reveal the textbox for entering your message. Then click on the Submit button to post your message.
*Note: Throughout this program, your fellow students are referred to as colleagues.
Hi M..
I like what you said regarding the communication skills of a nurse and knowing first hand the needs of the patient. Programs and policy often remains the topic of debate even years
after implementation (Laureate Education, 2018). With the growth in technology and evolution in health care, skilled nurses will be able to share in their thoughts and experiences of pre
and post policy implementation. During the review process, those excellent communication skills could help to ensure the proper policy is implemented. I think this makes us excellent
advocates which is a major advantage when you think about policy review. Additional recommendations would be to make sure you are a registered voter. The American Academy of
Ambulatory Care Nursing suggests some steps in regard to getting involved in policy because as nurses we are the better advocates. They suggest you should also understand how you
are represented. “Each state has representatives in house; the number of representatives is based on the state’s populations”. They are located on www.senate.gov abd www.house.gov. It
is also a good idea to enter these names and numbers in your cell or day planner (Spyder, 2020). Great discussion, I had similar points.
References
Laureate Education (Producer). (2018). Program Policy and Evaluation [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Spyder. (2020, March 12). Health Care Policy: The Nurse’s Crucial Role. Retrieved from https://www.aaacn.org/volunteer/teams/legislative/health-care-policy-nurses-crucial-role
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS
Discussion Questions (DQ)
- Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
- Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
- One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
- I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation
- Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
- In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
- Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
- Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality
- Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
- Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
- I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes
- I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
- As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
- It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy
- For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
- Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
- Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
- Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy
- The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
- Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
- If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
- I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
- As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication
- Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
- Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
- Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.
Rubric Detail
Select Grid View or List View to change the rubric’s layout.
Excellent | Good | Fair | Poor | |
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Main Posting |
45 (45%) – 50 (50%)
Answers all parts of the discussion question(s) expectations with reflective critical analysis and synthesis of knowledge gained from the course readings for the module and current credible sources.
Supported by at least three current, credible sources. Written clearly and concisely with no grammatical or spelling errors and fully adheres to current APA manual writing rules and style. |
40 (40%) – 44 (44%)
Responds to the discussion question(s) and is reflective with critical analysis and synthesis of knowledge gained from the course readings for the module.
At least 75% of post has exceptional depth and breadth. Supported by at least three credible sources. Written clearly and concisely with one or no grammatical or spelling errors and fully adheres to current APA manual writing rules and style. |
35 (35%) – 39 (39%)
Responds to some of the discussion question(s).
One or two criteria are not addressed or are superficially addressed. Is somewhat lacking reflection and critical analysis and synthesis. Somewhat represents knowledge gained from the course readings for the module. Post is cited with two credible sources. Written somewhat concisely; may contain more than two spelling or grammatical errors. Contains some APA formatting errors. |
0 (0%) – 34 (34%)
Does not respond to the discussion question(s) adequately.
Lacks depth or superficially addresses criteria. Lacks reflection and critical analysis and synthesis. Does not represent knowledge gained from the course readings for the module. Contains only one or no credible sources. Not written clearly or concisely. Contains more than two spelling or grammatical errors. Does not adhere to current APA manual writing rules and style. |
Main Post: Timeliness |
10 (10%) – 10 (10%)
Posts main post by day 3.
|
0 (0%) – 0 (0%)
|
0 (0%) – 0 (0%)
|
0 (0%) – 0 (0%)
Does not post by day 3.
|
First Response |
17 (17%) – 18 (18%)
Response exhibits synthesis, critical thinking, and application to practice settings.
Communication is professional and respectful to colleagues. Responses to faculty questions are fully answered, if posed. Provides clear, concise opinions and ideas that are supported by at least two scholarly sources. Demonstrates synthesis and understanding of learning objectives. Response is effectively written in standard, edited English. |
15 (15%) – 16 (16%)
Response exhibits critical thinking and application to practice settings.
Communication is professional and respectful to colleagues. Responses to faculty questions are answered, if posed. Provides clear, concise opinions and ideas that are supported by two or more credible sources. Response is effectively written in standard, edited English. |
13 (13%) – 14 (14%)
Response is on topic and may have some depth.
Responses posted in the discussion may lack effective professional communication. Responses to faculty questions are somewhat answered, if posed. Response may lack clear, concise opinions and ideas, and a few or no credible sources are cited. |
0 (0%) – 12 (12%)
Response may not be on topic and lacks depth.
Responses posted in the discussion lack effective professional communication. Responses to faculty questions are missing. No credible sources are cited. |
Second Response |
16 (16%) – 17 (17%)
Response exhibits synthesis, critical thinking, and application to practice settings.
Communication is professional and respectful to colleagues. Responses to faculty questions are fully answered, if posed. Provides clear, concise opinions and ideas that are supported by at least two scholarly sources. Demonstrates synthesis and understanding of learning objectives. Response is effectively written in standard, edited English. |
14 (14%) – 15 (15%)
Response exhibits critical thinking and application to practice settings.
Communication is professional and respectful to colleagues. Responses to faculty questions are answered, if posed. Provides clear, concise opinions and ideas that are supported by two or more credible sources. Response is effectively written in standard, edited English. |
12 (12%) – 13 (13%)
Response is on topic and may have some depth.
Responses posted in the discussion may lack effective professional communication. Responses to faculty questions are somewhat answered, if posed. Response may lack clear, concise opinions and ideas, and a few or no credible sources are cited. |
0 (0%) – 11 (11%)
Response may not be on topic and lacks depth.
Responses posted in the discussion lack effective professional communication. Responses to faculty questions are missing. No credible sources are cited. |
Participation |
5 (5%) – 5 (5%)
Meets requirements for participation by posting on three different days.
|
0 (0%) – 0 (0%)
|
0 (0%) – 0 (0%)
|
0 (0%) – 0 (0%)
Does not meet requirements for participation by posting on 3 different days.
|
Total Points: 100 |
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