Identify a health policy issue, find a stateor US federal bill related to it
1. A) Identify a health policy issue, find a stateor US federal bill related to it, trace its progress and provide a summary. You will want to use the websites required for this week: govtrack.us and Library of Congress Thomas for federal bills; ILGA.gov site for state bills. YOU MAY NOT WRITE ABOUT immunizations, Specialized Mental Health Rexhabilitation Act of 2013, H.R. 2094: School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act, Women’s Reproductive Health Policy, or Childhood Obesity.
B) Add to your peers’ critical evaluation of their issue by posing an intelligent question to the following post OR add information that contributes to a more complete picture of the policy issue or the state of the legislation. The peer’s critical evaluation is as follows (you may use the peers’ evaluation as an example to how to write part A):
The health policy issue I have selected focuses on women’s health and ensuring women have access to reproductive health care. The Senate Resolution 60 is entitled: A resolution supporting women’s reproductive health. The bill was introduced on February 27, 2013 and has been referred to committee.
This resolution was presented by Senator Barbara Boxer with 12 cosponsors. The main goals of this resolution are to complete the following:
(1) ensure that women have access to contraception, other preventive services, and medically accurate information necessary to make health care decisions;
(2) ensure that women who rely on the family planning and related preventive health grant programs of the Public Health Service Act, title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act, and non-profit providers like Planned Parenthood continue to get cancer screenings, birth control, and other essential health care services;
(3) ensure that women have access to affordable insurance coverage for all pregnancy-related health care needs; and
(4) reduce health disparities between men and women and among women of different races, ethnicities, and sexual orientations.
According to govtracks.us, the resolution has a 78% chance of being agreed to after it is reported by committee. This issue directly relates to our course topics of culture, ethics, and policy analysis. Our country is often ethically divided when it comes to the topic of women’s reproductive health. Cultural variations create different beliefs regarding women’s reproductive rights; however, the government is responsible for setting national policies. Recent news stories indicate that further teaching is needed to ensure the population is aware of women’s heath issues and the health care that is needed. In my interpretation of policy, national policies should work to create equality between genders, races, ethnicities, and sexual orientations as desired by this resolution.
S.Res. 60–113th Congress: A resolution supporting women’s reproductive health.. (2013). In www.GovTrack.us. Retrieved August 13, 2013, from http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/sres60
2. A) It has been suggested that political involvement among nurses is not strong or consistent within the profession, though this may be slowly changing. Read the article (Warner) below, and identify at least one potential challenge or barrier to political involvement for the generalist nurse and outline one workable solution to address the challenge or barrier.
Refer to “The Spectrum of Political Competencies” (figure 3.3 in Mason) that you used in this week’s self-assessment for a good list of activities related to political involvement. You can also reflect on your self-assessment to generate material for this discussion.
Challenges/barriers and solutions must be well thought-out and supported by literature, research or your own experience.
Warner, J.R. (2003). A Phenomenological Approach to Political Competence: Stories of Nurse Activists. Policy Politics Nursing Practice, 4: 135-143.
Mason, D., Leavitt, J., and Chaffee, M. (2012). Policy & Politics in Nursing and Health Care-6th edition. St. Louis: Elsevier-Saunders. ISBN: 978-A-4377-1416-6
B) Supply an additional strategy to the posted solution below or provide a supportive critique of one proposed solution, including a strategy that would make it more effective (You may use this post as an example to how to write part A):
Networking is extremely important to advancing the career of nursing and cultivating policies to better the field for nurses and consumers. Networking in itself can be difficult to do but it also time consuming and overwhelming. It can be complicated to know which opportunities to peruse. In my past position individuals in the field took the time to acclimate “newbies” to the world of networking. If there hadn’t been those opportunities for me, I’m not sure I would have been as active. Once a year we had a state conference that was paid for us to go and learn but we were also expected to network as many state legislators were in attendance. I agree with the article that sometimes “the ability to ask for help is sometimes perceived as a weakness rather than strength”. If it weren’t asked of us, it would have been tough to know to do that. For that I am grateful.
The other tough part is that not everyone is going to have the same view as you. You can, and will, make enemies by believing in something and speaking up is that relationships can become strained. “Friends come and go, but enemies accumulate”. Even though you believe in what you’re fighting for, it can take a toll emotionally.
Warner, J. (2003). A phenomenological approach to political competence: stories of nurse activists. Policy, Politics & Nursing Practice, 4(2), 135-143.
3. A) Investigate the efforts of ANA and its constituents towards workplace or professional practice advocacy and compare these efforts to those of the National Nurses United, or other nursing union(s). Begin an online debate (based on your views and the readings) of advocacy.
