Assessment_6026_1 and 2

Develop a 2–4 page policy proposal that seeks to improve the outcomes for your chosen healthcare issue and target population.

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Introduction

Note: Each assessment in this course builds on the work you completed in the previous assessment. Therefore, you must complete the assessments in this course in the order in which they are presented.

Cost and access to care continue to be main concerns for patients and providers. As technology improves our ability to care for and improve outcomes in patients with chronic and complex illnesses, questions of cost and access become increasingly important. As a master’s-prepared nurse, you must be able to develop policies that will ensure the delivery of care that is effective and can be provided in an ethical and equitable manner.

Professional Context

As a master's-prepared nurse, you have a valuable viewpoint and voice with which to advocate for policy developments. As a nurse leader and healthcare practitioner, often on the front lines of helping individuals and populations, you are able to articulate and advocate for the patient more than any other professional group in healthcare. This is especially true of populations that may be underserved, underrepresented, or are otherwise lacking a voice. By advocating for and developing policies, you are able to help drive improvements in outcomes for specific populations. The policies you advocate for could be internal ones (just within a specific department or healt care setting) that ensure quality care and compliance. Or they could be external policies (local, state, or federal) that may have more wide-ranging effects on best practices and regulations.

Scenario

The analysis of position papers that your interdisciplinary team presented to the committee has convinced them that it would be worth the time and effort to develop a new policy to address your specific issue in the target population. To that end, your interdisciplinary team has been asked to submit a policy proposal that outlines a specific approach to improving the outcomes for your target population that's negatively impacted by health inequity. This proposal should be supported by evidence and best practices that illustrate why the specific approaches are likely to be successful. Additionally, you have been asked to address the ways in which applying your policy to interdisciplinary teams could lead to efficiency or effectiveness gains.

This assessment will build upon your previous Analysis of Position Papers for Vulnerable Populations assessment. If, for some reason, you wish to change your specific issue or target population, contact your faculty for approval.

Instructions

For this assessment, you will develop a policy proposal that seeks to improve the outcomes for your chosen healthcare issue and target population. The bullet points below correspond to the grading criteria in the scoring guide. Be sure that your assessment submission addresses all of them. You may also want to read the Biopsychosocial Population Health Policy Proposal Scoring Guide and  Guiding Questions: Biopsychosocial Population Health Policy Proposal [PDF]  to better understand how each grading criterion will be assessed.

· Propose a policy and guidelines that will lead to improved outcomes and quality of care for a specific issue in a target population negatively impacted by health inequity.

· Advocate the need for a proposed policy in the context of current outcomes and quality of care for a specific issue in a target population negatively impacted by health inequity.

· Analyze the potential for an interdisciplinary approach to implementing a proposed policy to increase the efficiency or effectiveness of the care setting to achieve high-quality outcomes.

· Communicate proposal in a professional and persuasive manner, writing content clearly and logically with correct use of grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

· Integrate relevant sources to support assertions, correctly formatting citations and references using APA style.

Example assessment: You may use the  Assessment 2 Example [PDF]  to give you an idea of what a Proficient or higher rating on the scoring guide would look like.

Submission Requirements

· Length of proposal: 2–4 double-spaced, typed pages, not including title page or reference list. Your proposal should be succinct yet substantive. No abstract is required.

· Number of references: Cite a minimum of 3–5 sources of scholarly or professional evidence that support the relevance of or need for your policy, as well as interdisciplinary considerations. Resources should be no more than five years old.

· APA formatting: Use the  APA Style Paper Tutorial [DOCX] to help you in writing and formatting your proposal.

Competencies Measured

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and scoring guide criteria:

· Competency 1: Design evidence-based advanced nursing care for achieving high-quality population outcomes.

· Propose a policy and guidelines that will lead to improved outcomes and quality of care for a specific issue in a target population negatively impacted by health inequity.

· Competency 2: Evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of interdisciplinary interventions in achieving desired population health outcomes.

· Analyze the potential for an interdisciplinary approach to implementing a proposed policy to increase the efficiency or effectiveness of the care setting to achieve high-quality outcomes.

· Competency 3: Analyze population health outcomes through the lens of social justice, structural racism, or health inequity and their implications for health policy advocacy.

· Advocate the need for a proposed policy in the context of current outcomes and quality of care for a specific issue in a target population negatively impacted by health inequity.

· Competency 4: Communicate effectively with diverse audiences, in an appropriate form and style, consistent with organizational, professional, and scholarly standards.

· Communicate in a professional and persuasive manner, writing content clearly and logically with correct use of grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

· Integrate relevant sources to support assertions, correctly formatting citations and references using current APA style.

Develop a 4–6 page position summary and an analysis of relevant position papers on a healthcare issue in a chosen population.

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Introduction

Note: Each assessment in this course builds on the work you completed in the previous assessment. Therefore, you must complete the assessments in this course in the order in which they are presented.

Position papers are a method to evaluate the most current evidence and policies related to healthcare issues. They offer a way for researchers to explore the views of any number of organizations around a topic. This can help you to develop your own position and approach to care around a topic or issue.

This assessment will focus on analyzing position papers about an issue related to addiction, chronicity, emotional and mental health, genetics and genomics, or immunity. Many of these topics are quickly evolving as technology advances, or as we attempt to push past stigmas. For example, technological advances and DNA sequencing provide comprehensive information to allow treatment to become more targeted and effective for the individual. However, as a result, nurses must be able to understand and teach patients about the impact of this information. With this great power comes concerns that patient conditions are protected in an ethical and compassionate manner.

Professional Context

Position papers are a way for individuals, groups, and organizations to express their views and intentions toward a specific issue. In healthcare, many position papers address specific policies, regulations, or other approaches to care. As a master's-prepared nurse, you should feel empowered to express and advocate for your own views on policy and care matters. This is especially important when it comes to populations you or your organization cares for that are not receiving the quality, type, or amount of care that they require.

An important skill in creating a position paper or policy proposal is the ability to analyze and synthesize others' views about the population or issue of interest to you. By synthesizing the positive and negative views of an issue, you can become better equipped to strengthen your own arguments and to respond to opposing views in an informed and convincing way.

Scenario

For this assessment, pretend you are a member of an interdisciplinary team attempting to improve the quality and outcomes of healthcare in a vulnerable or underserved population. You should choose a population that's of interest in the promotion of social justice, one negatively impacted by structural racism, or a population that’s negatively impacted in any other way by health inequity. For the first step in your team's work, you have decided to conduct an analysis of current position papers that address the issue and population you are considering.

In your analysis, you will note the team's initial views on the issue in the population as well as the views across a variety of relevant position papers. You have been tasked with finding the most current standard of care or evidenced-based practice and evaluating both the pros and cons of the issue. For the opposing viewpoints, it is important to discuss how the team could respond to encourage support. This paper will be presented to a committee of relevant stakeholders from your care setting and the community. If it receives enough support, you will be asked to create a new policy that could be enacted to improve the outcomes related to your chosen issue and target population.

The care setting, population, and healthcare issue that you use for this assessment will be used in the other assessments in this course. Consider your choice carefully. There are two main approaches for you to take in selecting the scenario for this assessment:

1. You may use one of the issues and populations presented in the  Vila Health: Health Challenges in Different Populations  media piece. For this approach, you may consider the population in the context of the Vila Health care setting, or translate it into the context in which you currently practice or have had recent experience.

2. You may select a population and issue that is of interest to you and set them in the context of your current or desired future care setting. While you are free to choose any population of interest, the issue you choose should fall within one of the following broad categories:

· Genetics and genomics.

· Sickle cell, asthma, multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis.

· Immunity.

· Type 1 diabetes, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), congenital neutropenia syndrome.

· Chronicity.

· Arthritis, any type of cancer or lung or heart disease, obesity.

· Addiction.

· Abuse of alcohol, prescription drugs, tobacco, illegal substances.

· Emotion and mental health.

· Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, eating disorders, psychosis.

Note: If you choose the second option, contact your faculty to make sure that your chosen issue and population will fit within the topic areas for this course.

Instructions

For this assessment, you will develop a position summary and an analysis of relevant position papers on a healthcare issue in a chosen vulnerable or underserved population. The bullet points below correspond to the grading criteria in the scoring guide. Be sure that your assessment submission addresses all of them. You may also want to read the Analysis of Position Papers for Vulnerable Populations Scoring Guide and  Guiding Questions: Analysis of Position Papers for Vulnerable Populations [PDF]  to better understand how each grading criterion will be assessed.

· Explain a position with regard to health outcomes for a specific issue in a target population.

· Explain the collaborative role of the interdisciplinary team in facilitating improvements for a specific issue in a target population.

· Evaluate the evidence and positions of others that could support a team's approach to improving the quality and outcomes of care for a specific issue in a target population negatively impacted by health inequity.

· Your process of evaluation should include identifying potential barriers to implementing this approach.

· Communicate an initial viewpoint regarding a specific issue in a target population and a synthesis of existing positions in a logically structured and concise manner, writing content clearly with correct use of grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

· Integrate relevant sources to support assertions, correctly formatting citations and references using APA style.

Example assessment: You may use the  Assessment 1 Example [PDF]  to give you an idea of what a Proficient or higher rating on the scoring guide would look like.

Submission Requirements

· Length of submission: 4–6 double-spaced, typed pages, not including the title and reference pages. Your plan should be succinct yet substantive. No abstract is required.

· Number of references: Cite a minimum of 3–5 sources of scholarly or professional evidence that support your initial position on the issue, as well as a minimum of 2–3 sources of scholarly or professional evidence that express contrary views or opinions. Resources should be no more than five years old.

· APA formatting: Use the  APA Style Paper Tutorial [DOCX]  to help you in writing and formatting your analysis.