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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?

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.

FYI: RESPOND TO TWO COLLEAGUES and include two in test APA citations and reference. Response must be between 500 w0rds to up.

Colleague 1

Nurses and advanced practice nurses can not only participate in healthcare policy being created but also in the evaluation of the policy and how effective it can be. One of these ways is as a nurse scientist. Nurse scientist provide evidence and increase knowledge on advancing healthcare policies (Ellenbecker & Edward, 2016). Their main goal is to improve the health outcome of society by improving access to care, quality and cost of care and the efficiency of the healthcare that is being delivered (Ellenbecker & Edward, 2016). In order for nurses scientist to be effective, they must understand the political process, are aware of the specific problem they are evaluating, ability to work amongst teams of researchers from different disciplines, are skilled in conducting research, and are able to synthesize and disseminate the data that is found during the research (Ellenbecker & Edward, 2016).

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is a federal agency whose main goal is to improve the safety and quality of care within the United States healthcare system (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2018). The AHRQ uses research and how-to tools to ensure policymakers make informed health decisions (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2018). To join the organization an application online is required. The barrier to this opportunity is not getting hired for the position.

The largest barriers to nurse being involved in any level of policy making and/or evaluation is lack of knowledge about these opportunities, insufficient time, and lack of political and policy development skills (Barezegar Safari, Bahadori, & Alimohammadzadeh, 2020). This can be avoided if nursing schools educated their students on different opportunities in nursing other than bedside nursing. Also, encouragement by schools and organizations for nurses to join nursing organization such as the American Nurses Association (ANA).

Colleague 2

Professional nurses can get involved in policymaking in healthcare by joining a professional nursing organization. Therefore, the nurses can write about their state representative on the policies associated with healthcare. Nurses have a significant potential to influence politics and policies on a global scale. Professional nurses have an obligation to be engaged in policies that have a positive impact on the patients’ outcomes. The nurses advocate for the patients when they influence the politics that enhance healthcare delivery. However, professional nurses have been little involved in the legislations that influence the delivery associated with healthcare.

I am comfortable in getting involved in the policy evaluation that focuses on the well-being and care of the patients. It is essential to evaluate policies within the healthcare facility to ensure the patients have better healthcare outcomes (Dickson, Parshall & Brindis, 2020). Professional nurses are the best individuals in healthcare to evaluate policies since they are more associated with the patients than any other individuals in healthcare. Nurses have a better position to evaluate any policy that has been introduced in healthcare as they have all the time engaging with the patients. The role of professional nurses in legislation assessment is an important factor in ensuring patient safety and proper healthcare delivery has been met. Nurses such as APRNs and RNs can be involved in the policy review. However, there are some challenges that are associated with the policy review in healthcare. The challenges are also conventionally known as the implementation barriers. The implementation barriers include the inadequacy of human resources, opposition from major stakeholders, and limited clarity on roles and operational guidelines for implementation. The barriers are considered as the obstacles that prevent given legislation to get implemented in healthcare. The barriers are considered to limit the manner in which the policies need to get implemented. In extremities, the barriers can lead to particular legislations getting overlooked and the resultant strategies becoming much less efficient. To overcome these challenges, as a professional nurse I need to identify the opposition from the key stakeholders in healthcare and obtain better resource management in the healthcare facility. Considering the challenging factors for policy implementation in healthcare can significantly influence the outcome of the patients. I would recommend professional nurses have clear communication with the patients and ensure improved skills in proposing and developing new healthcare legislation (Rasheed, Younas & Mehdi, 2020). Through policy study or research, professional nurses can gain appropriate competency and get recognized with the needed advocacy skills. It is crucial for the APRNs and RNs to be conversant with every policy in healthcare to ensure the patient has improved safety and qua