One of the branches of science that is currently gaining popularity is health policy. Health policy is defined as the study which deals with the different actions and plans done by the local, state, and even the national government. Additionally, it includes the different efforts in terms of legislative and regulatory aspects, especially with organizing, financing, and delivering of health care services. Some of the health care concerns associated with health policy include trainings and seminars of health professionals, ensuring the safety of the different medicines, drugs, and medical services, implementing different public health programs, and regulating of the private health insurance of citizens (Acuff, 2015; World Health Organization, 2016).
Since nurses are considered to be the biggest sector in the field of health care workforce, they have been considered as the main stakeholders capable of suggesting ways to help in the improvement of the health care system. Despite the trust and good reputation attached to nurses in the United States, the fact that nurses tend to underestimate their political power is still a major issue. Since nurses are considered to be one of the major stakeholders in terms of health policy and the improvement of the health care services and delivery, their limited participation in various political processes takes a toll on the changing laws in the health care sector. As a matter of fact, the limited participation of the nurses contributes to the restriction of their scope of practice which in turn minimizes their access to different care and insurance reimbursement policies. These factors greatly affect the decision of nurses to provide various primary health care services, thus, also affecting the health status of the patients (Ryan & Rosenberg, 2015).
Currently, it has been revealed that the majority of the reforms associated with health policy is linked to budget cuts. The majority of the adjustments done to compensate for the budget cuts led to the downsizing of the nurse staff of various health institutions which resulted to various effects on nurses and even patient care. Majority of the negative consequences brought about by the health policy reforms include inadequacy of staff, increased workload, decreased satisfaction, increased job insecurity, and even decreased quality and quantity of patient outcomes and patient care. The same report also included various factors which affected the limited participation of nurses in the development of different health policies. Some of these factors include lack of involvement of nurses in developing health policies and laws, inadequate knowledge and skills necessary for the development of health care policies, negative or poor image of nurses, inadequate enabling structures, and even lack of necessary resources (Shariff, 2014; Bernier & Clavier, 2011).
The limited participation of nurses in the policy making process in the health care sector affects the safety, quality, accessibility, and affordability of health care services. Since improved health care has been associated with the increased involvement of nurses in health policy development, steps should be taken to encourage nurses to take on major roles in health policy development. Some of the major aspects of health care delivery that can be greatly affected by the restricted participation and involvement of nurses in the health policy development include limited access of patients to health care services, reduced prevention of suicide among adolescents, inadequate development of various guidelines necessary for the care of pregnant women along with their children, limited policies on child abuse, and the inadequate improvement in the field of continence services (Shariff, 2014).
In conclusion, the limited participation of nursing professionals in political and health policy greatly impacts the health care delivery system of the United States along with the health outcomes of the patients. Thus, it is necessary to encourage nurses to participate in various roles for health policy development to widen and strengthen the scope and significance of various health policies and laws.
References
Acuff, K. (2015). Definition of Health Care Policy. Livestrong. Retrieved from http://www.livestrong.com/article/259661-definition-of-health-care-policy/ [Accessed on 1 Jul 2016].
Bernier, N.F. and Clavier, C. (2011). Public health policy research: making the case for a political science approach. Health Promotion International 26(1): 109-116.
Ryan, S.F. and Rosenberg, S. (2015). Nurse Practitioners and Political Engagement: Findings from a Nurse Practitioner Advanced Practice Focus Group & National Online Survey. American Nurse Practitioner Foundation. Retrieved from http://anp-foundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Nurse_Practitioners_and_Political_Engagement_Report.pdf [Accessed on 1 Jul 2016].
Shariff, N. (2014). Factors that act as facilitators and barriers to nurse leaders’ participation in health policy development. BMC Nursing 13(20).
World Health Organization. (2016). Health Policy. World Health Organization. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/topics/health_policy/en/ [Accessed on 1 Jul 2016].
