Introduction
United States faces challenges associated with delivery of health care services to the public because of lack of adequate policies and legislatures governing the health sector. In the year 2010, approximately 48 million Americans went without health insurance. Most people go without medical care because of the high cost of healthcare and lack of adequate policies to govern the already established medical care. Doctors of Nursing Practice (DNP) have a crucial role to play in ensuring health disparities are a thing of the past through involvement in policy making. Undertaking the policy course helps shape and model nurses for future roles as DNPs. DNP graduates possess necessary tools to make changes in the society through knowledge and education gained in college. The discussion below analyzes the impact of health policy course on the future role of DNP focusing on the political involvement of nurses in making legislations.
Discussion
Importance of health policy course in shaping the future as DNP
Present day nurses are more involved in policy making than any other time in history. The fragmentation of the healthcare sector and lack of effective legislations to govern health practices has led to the introduction of health policy courses. Social policy initiative and political decisions have a lot of significance in the practice of nursing. DNP always engage in political and decision-making processes that ensure the growth of healthcare. Participating in health policy course exposes DNP to many issues in healthcare. The DNP tends to be more politically active and involved as they seek ways of pressuring the government to introduce policies to improve the quality of care. The Texas Board of Nursing ensures all DNP graduates possess the necessary knowledge and skills. All nurses registered with the Texas Board of Nursing must undergo extensive health policy course in order to understand health politics and apply them to improving the society's healthy lifestyle. Through the Texas Health Care Policy Council, DNP can efficiently implement, monitor, and evaluate innovative strategies for promoting equal opportunity for all (2011).
On the other hand, engagement in the health policy course increases chances for DNPs interaction with legislators and lawmakers. Assignments and projects offered during the course make it possible for the student to seek advice from legislators. The following interaction is very fundamental in the future career of the DNP. For instance, legislators give advice on how approach members of the House and Senate to make them pass a particular policy aimed at improving healthcare delivery. As a future DNP, interacting with legislators is very interesting because they educate me more on health care policy and advice me about the legal, ethical, and social factors involved in developing health policies. According to Mason, Leavitt & Chafee (2012), understanding health policy assists in developing skills to influence policies needs to change the present health care environment. Legislators prepare DNP for their future role as health leaders. As a DNP, the course makes me to play political leadership roles in the following areas. These are the workplace, the community, the professional sphere, and the government.
The knowledge and skills gained from learning the health policy course help DNP in shaping the future of U.S. health sector. The government fails to deliver healthcare to citizens leaving the local, state, and national policies with the responsibility. DNP graduates assist by introducing patient-centered policies that ensure low cost of health care, lack of discrimination and access to health care in all parts of the country. Texas has the highest number of health disparities, and a good percentage of citizens do not access healthcare services. Upon learning the health policy course, DNP graduates will be in a better position to introduce changes in Texas. Additionally, the course prepares the DNP for the future and more challenging healthcare environment characterized by increasing population and technology advancement. The future of nursing focuses on advancing health and leading change (Mund, 2012).
Politics assists in passing and implementation of policies. The health policy gives a deep understanding of the relationship between policy and politics. Learning the course helps future DNP’s influence healthcare policies in the legislative arena. When developing healthcare policies, both political and legal experts affect the outcome of the policy. Everybody believes that access to quality and cheap health care is a desire for every person, but the mode and processes involved in ensuring these accomplishments are challenging. Politics pulls legislators into their grounds while the government tackles by improving the working conditions of health professionals. Elected officials have the final word on any healthcare issue introduced by policy-makers irrespective of the times and resources used to process and evaluate the policy (Abood, 2007).
Conclusion
The government made a good initiative by introducing the health policy course in the nursing curriculum. The following course has assisted in shaping the future of nurses as they perform DNP roles. As the health sector moves to a more advanced level, more policymakers are needed to push the government into improving the state of healthcare. Additionally, the course assists DNPs in dealing with political forces that delay passing and implementation of healthcare policies. Moreover, the knowledge gained in the course makes the nurse more confidence in delivering their responsibilities to citizens.
References
Abood, S. (2007). Influencing health care in the legislative arena. Online J Issues Nursing, 12(1),
1-6.
Mason, D. J., Leavitt, J. K., & Chafee, M. (Eds.). (2012). Policy and politics in nursing and
health care (6th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Saunders.
Mund, A. R. (2012). Education news: Policy, practice, and education. AANA Journal, 80(6),
423-426.
Texas Board of Nursing (2011). Texas Nursing Practice Act. Retrieved from:
http://www.bon.texas.gov/nursinglaw/npa.html
