Discussion: Review of Current Healthcare Issues NURS 6053

Discussion: Review of Current Healthcare Issues NURS 6053
If you asked ten people what they believe is the most pressing issue confronting healthcare today, you might get ten different responses. Costs increasing? Regulation? What is a technological disruption?
These and numerous other issues are debatable. Not surprisingly, much has been said about these topics in research, within the profession, and in the news. Whether it’s a matter of finance, quality, workload, or outcomes, there’s no shortage of changes that need to be made.
In this Discussion, you examine a national healthcare issue and consider how that issue may impact your work setting. You also analyze how your organization has responded to this issue.
To Prepare:
Review the Resources and select one current national healthcare issue/stressor to focus on.
NURS 6053 Week 1 Discussion Review of Current Healthcare Issues Slayers
Reflect on the current national healthcare issue/stressor you selected and think about how this issue/stressor may be addressed in your work setting.
By Day 3 of Week 1
Post a description of the national healthcare issue/stressor you selected for analysis, and explain how the healthcare issue/stressor may impact your work setting. Then, describe how your health system work setting has responded to the healthcare issue/stressor, including a description of what changes may have been implemented. Be specific and provide examples.
Discussion: Review of Current Healthcare Issues NURS 6053 By Day 6 of Week 1
Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days who chose a different national healthcare issue/stressor than you selected. Explain how their chosen national healthcare issue/stressor may also impact your work setting and what (if anything) is being done to address the national healthcare issue/stressor.
Submission and Grading Information
Grading Criteria
To access your rubric:
Week 1 Discussion Rubric
Post by Day 3 and Respond by Day 6 of Week 1
To participate in this Discussion:
Week 1 Discussion
You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.
Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.
Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.
The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.
RE: Discussion – Week 1 Main Post
I work in the mental health field, so I decided to bring up the issue of access to mental health treatment. There are over 60 million Americans who suffer from a mental illness and more than half cannot find mental health treatment (National Alliance on Mental Illness, n.d.). There are multiple barriers for accessing mental health treatment and they include lack of insurance, high costs, little options for those who live in rural areas, long waits to get into treatment, not knowing where to find help, social stigma, limited mental health providers and transportation to get to appointments (National Council for Behavioral Health, 2020).
I work for Sacred Heart Hospital in downtown Spokane, Washington and this hospital has done numerous things to help people seeking mental health treatment get through the barriers.
The hospital has a designated psychiatric department in their emergency department than has the capacity for 25 patients. The department is open 24 hours every day of the week. The patient can either walk-in or some are brought in involuntarily by paramedics or police officers. The hospital accepts patients regardless of ability to pay. The patient has access to a social worker to help them with payments or to enroll in medical insurance. The patient’s in the psychiatric ED are seen by a mental health profession to determine if they are safe to leave, need outpatient services, need an inpatient bed at our hospital if available or to refer them to an inpatient treatment facility out in the community.
The mental health professional takes a history of the patient and determine ability to pay, reliable transportation, living conditions, and their support system to determine what kind of help the patient needs. Some patient is detained involuntarily and sent to the state hospital. The hospital does have an inpatient unit for 27 patients. The patients are assessed for barriers to treatment by a social worker and most of these problems are resolved. The social worker helps the patients enroll in medical insurance if needed and locating services near their homes. The social worker also identifies the patient’s support systems to help when they leave the hospital.
Sacred Heart has partnered with Frontier Behavior Health in Spokane that offers inpatient and outpatient psychiatric treatment. Frontier Behavior Health also has a specialty team to do outreach in the community. This team is called Program for Assertive Community Treatment (PACT). This program helps with severe symptoms bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder, schizophrenia or other psychotic conditions by going to them in the community (Frontier Behavior Health, 2020). The team helps those 18 years or older to keep mental health appointments, make sure they take their medications, and help the individual to find safe housing (Frontier Behavioral Health, 2020).
As of today, Sacred Heart hospital has no plans to extend their mental health services.
References
Frontier Behavioral Health. (2020). Program for Assertive Community Treatment (PACT).
Retrieved from:
treatment-pact
National Alliance on Mental Illness. (n.d). The Doctor is Out. Retrieved from:
Doctor-is-Out
National Council for Behavioral Health. (2020). New Study Reveals Lack of Access as Root
Cause for Mental Health Crisis in America. Retrieved from:
Name: NURS_6053_Module01_Week01_Discussion_Rubric
Excellent Good Fair Poor
Main Posting
Points Range: 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.
Points Range: 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.
Points Range: 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.
Points Range: 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
Points Range: 10 (10%) – 10 (10%)
Posts main post by day 3.
Points Range: 0 (0%) – 0 (0%)
Points Range: 0 (0%) – 0 (0%)
Points Range: 0 (0%) – 0 (0%)
Does not post by day 3.
First Response
Points Range: 17 (17%) – 18 (18%)
Response exhibits synthesis, critical thinking, and application to practice settings.
Responds fully to questions posed by faculty.
Provides clear, concise opinions and ideas that are supported by at least two scholarly sources.
Demonstrates synthesis and understanding of learning objectives.
Communication is professional and respectful to colleagues.
Responses to faculty questions are fully answered, if posed.
Response is effectively written in standard, edited English.
Points Range: 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.
Points Range: 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.
Points Range: 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
Points Range: 16 (16%) – 17 (17%)
Response exhibits synthesis, critical thinking, and application to practice settings.
Responds fully to questions posed by faculty.
Provides clear, concise opinions and ideas that are supported by at least two scholarly sources.
Demonstrates synthesis and understanding of learning objectives.
Communication is professional and respectful to colleagues.
Responses to faculty questions are fully answered, if posed.
Response is effectively written in standard, edited English.
Points Range: 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.
Points Range: 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.
Points Range: 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
Points Range: 5 (5%) – 5 (5%)
Meets requirements for participation by posting on three different days.
Points Range: 0 (0%) – 0 (0%)
Points Range: 0 (0%) – 0 (0%)
Points Range: 0 (0%) – 0 (0%)
Does not meet requirements for participation by posting on 3 different days.
Total Points: 100
Name: NURS_6053_Module01_Week01_Discussion_Rubric
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.
Week 1 Response 1
Hello Maryam, I thought your post was interesting. I have the same experience. My unit is burned out because of a nursing shortage, and my facility is not hiring new nurses. The medical center is using agency nurses to make up for the insufficiencies. Human Resources are not using enough agency nurses to make a difference. Unfortunately, they do not stay as long as expected because of the working conditions. The nurse ratio has increased with high patient acuity. My facility is implementing mandatory rotation and being pulled to different units frequently to alleviate the shortage. This is how my facility is handling the issue, but it is causing increased cal-louts and burnouts. Some nurses graduate and start working and then determine the profession is not what they thought it would be. Others may work a while and experience burnout and leave the job. Turnover in nursing seems to be leveling off, but only after years of steady climbing in rates. The national average for turnover rates is 8.8 % to 37.0%, depending on geographic location and nursing specialty (Hadad et al., 2020). I work for the government, and they have always been slow with hiring nurses. The hiring process is prolonged due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The shortage of nurses leads to an increase in the workload of the existing workforce, which results in a predictable rise in medication errors. Close to half of all nurses employed have admitted to committing a medication error in the past year. Errors may range from infusing medicines at the wrong rate (most common) to giving improper treatment or mixing up drugs between patients, which easily can result in fatal consequences. (Bradley University, 2018). The manager and nurse coordinator check on the nurse frequently to determine if assistance is needed because of the overwhelming workload. If help is needed, they will help.
References
Bradley University. (2018, June 15). The nursing shortage and how it will impact patient care | bradley university
online. Retrieved March 4, 2021, from
Hadad, L. M., Annamaraju, P., & Toney-Butler, T. (2020, December 4). Nursing shortage – statpearls – ncbi
bookshelf. NCBI Resources. Retrieved March 4, 2021, from
Hello Alexis,
I really enjoyed your post; you chose a strong discussion topic that I feel as if many of us can relate. Universal healthcare would greatly benefit many if not all of the citizens in our country. I work in an osteoporosis center, where we frequently have issues with patients having high deductibles and copays; therefore, making the treatment that is best for that patient unaffordable. We often times have to argue with high level appeals, which takes a great deal of time and we still often are denied. This is beyond frustrating and is really serving the patient a disservice. Upon researching, I found an article indicating that a jury in Oklahoma awarded $25.5 million dollars to the family of a cancer patient. The family was awarded such a large sum of money because recklessly denies insurance coverage for a cancer patient. The insurance company cited her recommended treatment as experimental. The woman ultimately died. This is a terrible example of how insurance companies can really hinder the well-being of a patient (Aetna ordered, 2018). If we all had universal health coverage, perhaps this woman would have received the care that she as a citizen deserves. Unfortunately, at least half of the population in this world does not have full coverage for healthcare. More than 930 million people spend at least 10% of the overall household budgets paying for healthcare. Universal health care would ensure that everyone, including individuals and families, had access to the health care they need without facing financial hardship. It covers the entire range of basic, high-quality health services, from prevention to recovery, rehabilitation, and palliative care. Many countries are making great strides towards universal health care (Universal health, 2019). It is the hope that we can achieve such a status so that each and every American can receive the care that is deserved.
References
Aetna ordered to pay $25.5 million for denying coverage to woman who died of cancer. (2018, November 11). Retrieved March 05, 2021, from
Universal health coverage (UHC). (2019, January 24). Retrieved March 05, 2021, from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/universal-health-coverage-(uhc)