Posted: March 28th, 2021

Advocating For The Nursing Role In Program Design And Implementation

Advocating For The Nursing Role In Program Design And Implementation

As their names imply, the honeyguide bird and the honey badger both share an affinity for honey. Honeyguide birds specialize in finding beehives but struggle to access the honey within. Honey badgers are well-equipped to raid beehives but cannot always find them. However, these two honey-loving species have learned to collaborate on an effective means to meet their objectives. The honeyguide bird guides honey badgers to newly discovered hives. Once the honey badger has ransacked the hive, the honey guide bird safely enters to enjoy the leftover honey.

Much like honeyguide birds and honey badgers, nurses and health professionals from other specialty areas can—and should—collaborate to design effective programs. Nurses bring specialties to the table that make them natural partners to professionals with different specialties. When nurses take the requisite leadership in becoming involved throughout the healthcare system, these partnerships can better design and deliver highly effective programs that meet objectives.

In this Assignment, you will practice this type of leadership by advocating for a healthcare program. Equally as important, you will advocate for a collaborative role of the nurse in the design and implementation of this program. To do this, assume you are preparing to be interviewed by a professional organization/publication regarding your thoughts on the role of the nurse in the design and implementation of new healthcare programs.

To Prepare:

Review the Resources and reflect on your thinking regarding the role of the nurse in the design and implementation of new healthcare programs.

Select a healthcare program within your practice and consider the design and implementation of this program.

Reflect on advocacy efforts and the role of the nurse in relation to healthcare program design and implementation.

Review the User Guide for Uploading Media in your Blackboard Classroom by accessing the Kaltura Media Uploader on the Left Navigation Bar in preparation to record your narrated video or audio for this Assignment.

The Assignment: (2–3 pages)

In a 2- to 3-page paper, create an interview transcript of your responses to the following interview questions:

Tell us about a healthcare program, within your practice. What are the costs and projected outcomes of this program?

Who is your target population?

What is the role of the nurse in providing input for the design of this healthcare program? Can you provide examples?

What is your role as an advocate for your target population for this healthcare program? Do you have input into design decisions? How else do you impact design?

What is the role of the nurse in healthcare program implementation? How does this role vary between design and implementation of healthcare programs? Can you provide examples?

Who are the members of a healthcare team that you believe are most needed to implement a program? Can you explain why?

Georgia Interview Transcript

University name:

Date:

Georgia Interview Transcript

Interviewer: A Journalist

Interviewee: Program Director from Georgia

Interview setting: Georgia State Department of Community Health

(Start of Interview)

Interviewer: tell us about a healthcare program, within your practice. What are the costs and projected outcomes of this program?

Interviewee: In Georgia, the newly designed Rural Hospital Tax Credit Program of 2017 is led by the department of community health within the state with the aim of making healthcare more accessible. Under the program is a financial arrangement through which eligible individuals from low-income families receive aid in form of financial assistance during treatment in the registered health facilities (Georgia.gov, n.d.). The costs associated with the Rural Hospital Tax Credit Program is an additional funding in the form of tax credit for rural health facilities between $60 million and about $100 depending on the size of the hospital (Howard, 2017). Notably, the program aims to achieve access to healthcare to the eligible citizens through enhancing delivery of services in funding of facilities for expansion purposes.

Interviewer: Who is your target population?

Interviewee: the Rural Hospital Tax Credit Program targets citizens within the state who come from low-income families. Under the program, the funding from the government allows for annual tax credits to the health facilities there serving as a form of financial aid in a subsidized healthcare arrangement in Georgia (Georgia.gov, n.d.). Therefore, the program enhances access to healthcare to the citizens through offering financial aid hence reducing cost related issues which continually inhibit access to healthcare within the state.

Interviewer: What is the role of the nurse in providing input for the design of this healthcare program? Can you provide examples?

Interviewee: Under the Rural Hospital Tax Credit Program, nurses contribute towards the designing process of the program through offering views on the issues affecting the low-income members of the community thereby denying them the opportunity to access medical care (Georgia.gov, n.d.). Moreover, the duty to express the plight of patients for consideration in program designing is an advocacy role which justifies nurses to actively participate in leadership.

Interviewer: What is your role as an advocate for your target population for this healthcare program? Do you have input into design decisions? How else do you impact design?

Interviewee: As a nurse, I am under a duty to sensitize the low-income members of the community who visit health facilities in need of medical attention on their potential eligibility under the program (Nickitas, Middaugh & Aries, 2011). Additionally, I advise the patients on the extent to which the Rural Hospital Tax Credit Program offer tax credits which serve as financial assistance thereby making the cost of healthcare more affordable to the low-income families living in Georgia. Yes, I have the ability to influence the designing process of the program through advocacy for the rights of patients (Marquis & Huston, 2009). Moreover, I impact the designing process through active role in leadership to spearhead the consideration of the interests of the vulnerable members of the society.

Interviewer: What is the role of the nurse in healthcare program implementation? How does this role vary between the design and implementation of healthcare programs? Can you provide examples?

Interviewee: At the implementation stage of a program, nurses take active role in furthering the objectives of the initiative through leadership. For instance, in the Rural Hospital Tax Credit Program, nurses educate the public on the existence of the program and the benefits associated with it hence the need for registration (Nickitas, Middaugh & Aries, 2011). Notable, whereas the role of the nurses under the design phase is limited to advocacy, nurses undertake actual duties such as sensitization of the patients at the implementation stage.

Interviewer: Who are the members of a healthcare team that you believe are most needed to implement a program? Can you explain why?

Interviewee: Important members include nurses who advocate for the rights of the low-income patients in Georgia and physicians who express the health issues which require coverage under the Rural Hospital Tax Credit Program (Nickitas, Middaugh & Aries, 2011). Additionally, administrators from the identified hospital which deal with the program could also become important in the implementation phase. Lastly, the general population of Georgia could form part of the stakeholders in terms of the target group under the program.

References

Georgia.gov. (n.d.). Georgia Department of Community Health: program. Retrieved from https://dch.georgia.gov/programs

Howard, R. M. (2017). Politics in Georgia. Athens, Georgia The University of Georgia Press.

Marquis, B. L., & Huston, C. J. (2009). Leadership roles and management functions in nursing. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer.

Nickitas, D. M., Middaugh, D. J., & Aries, N. (2011). Policy and politics for nurses and other health professions: Advocacy and action. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.