In response to the previous post, although I agree that the latest reform in the form of the PPACA or Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (to give it its full name) – otherwise known as Obamacare – is intended to not only provide many more Americans with access to health care, but also to save costs, it may not quite work out as planned.
Fodeman (n.d.), believes that the Act will “drown doctors in bureaucracy” and take away their autonomy by giving their decision-making powers to Washington bureaucrats. He predicts that older doctors will retire early to avoid working under the new regulations, that young doctors will change careers, and medical students will decide to change course before it’s too late. As for the patients, the huge influx into the system of all those additional patients will mean longer waiting times for appointments and/or treatment and even rationing of care. Naturally, if Fodeman is right, some of that extra burden will also fall on the nurses working alongside that diminished number of doctors.
On a positive note, I like the sound of the community-based nursing and health care programs (Cronenwett et al., 2011). The concept of treating more people within their own communities and thereby reducing the workload for hospitals seems eminently sensible, and doubtless can also save costs to the health care system as a whole. As mentioned in the post, this could be a great opportunity for the nursing profession to show what it is capable of. Also, you are in my opinion correct in seeing that there will be an increased demand for qualified nurses, which may in turn help to raise nurses’ salaries. Irrespective of these new programs, the demand for nurses is likely to increase anyway as suggested by Cronenwett et al., due to the aging population that is affecting the U.S. along with many other developed nations.
References
Cronenwett, L., Dracup, K., Grey, M., McCauley, L., Meleis, A., & Salmon, M. (2011). “The Doctor of Nursing Practice: A National Workforce Perspective.” Science Direct: Nursing Outlook, 59, 9-17. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com
Fodeman, Jason. (n.d.). “The New Health Law: Bad For Doctors, Awful For Patients.” The Institute for Health Care Consumerism. Retrieved from http://www.theihcc.com/en/communities/policy_legislation/the-new-health-law-bad-for-doctors-awful-for-patie_gn17y01k.html
