Nurse’s Role in Influencing the Legislative Process

For this week’s project, you’ll answer three questions related to your opportunity as a nurse and an advocate. The first two questions relate to influencing a bill is traveling through the legislative process. The third question refers you to the social determinants of health as described in your course textbook reading and asks you to think specifically on your role as a nurse in influencing social determinants of health.

In a brief paper (no more than 2 typed pages, 1 inch margins, 12 font Times New Roman or Courier New), answer the questions below. Write each question as a new topic area and then follow with a paragraph or two to answer the question. You may find it necessary to search for answers to the questions outside of the assigned reading. Be sure to use APA guidelines for writing style, spelling and grammar, and citation of sources.

Answer the following questions:

• What parts of the lawmaking process does a nurse have an opportunity to influence the final bill passage?
• List at least two ways that this influence can take place. In your opinion, would one way be preferable over the other?
• Reviewing the social determinants of health, select one to respond to this question:
  • What role can nurses play in promoting health status through policy changes directly affecting this social determinant?

Submission Details:

• Submit your response in a 2-page Microsoft Word document (500 words).
• Name your document SU_NSG4068_W2_Project_LastName_FirstInitial.doc.
• Submit your document to the Submissions Area by the due date assigned.
• Cite sources in the APA format on a separate page.

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nurse educate strategy to develop patient care plan

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In the United States, there was a whopping 97% increase in the number of health records breached from 2010 to 2011… The number of patient records accessed in each breach has also increased substantially, from 26,968 (in 2010) to 49,394 (in 2011). Since August 2009, when the US government regulated that any breach affecting more than 500 patients be publicly disclosed, a total of 385 breaches, involving more than 19 million records, have been reported to the Department of Health and Human Services.

A large portion of those breaches, 39%, occurred because of a lost, stolen, or otherwise compromised portable electronic device—a problem that will likely only get worse as iPads, smartphones, and other gadgets become more common in hospitals. (CMAJ, 2012, p. E215). 

Consider your own experiences. Does your organization use portable electronic devices? What safeguards are in place to ensure the security of data and patient information? For this Discussion you consider ethical and security issues surrounding the protection of digital health information.

To prepare

• Review the Learning Resources dealing with the security of digital health care information. Reflect on your own organization or one with which you are familiar, and think about how health information stored electronically is protected.
• Consider the nurse’s responsibility to ensure the protection of patient information. What strategies can you use?
• Reflect on ethical issues that are likely to arise with the increased access to newer, smaller, and more powerful technology tools.
• Consider strategies that can be implemented to ensure that the use of HIT contributes to an overall culture of safety. 

Post an analysis of the nurse’s responsibility to protect patient information and the extent that HIT has made it easier or more difficult to protect patient privacy. Comment on any security or ethical issues related to the use of portable devices to store information. Assess the strategies your organization uses to safeguard patient information and how these promote a culture of safety. Describe an area where improvement is needed and one strategy that could address the situation.

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• What are the best strategies the nurse can employ to empower patients and support patients’ rights to improve quality of care? (Some considerations to keep in mind may include: providing information on effectiveness, risks, and benefits of alternative treatments.)
• In what ways can NDNQI data from dashboards or quality improvement data be used to support nurse empowerment in practice?
• How has your institution empowered the nursing staff through the use of quality improvement data?
• Provide an example of how you have personally empowered either a patient or a fellow nurse.

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