Health Policy and Scope of Practice /Health and Wellness Promotion and the NP
SECTION A (1.5 page minimum).
Health Policy and Scope of Practice
Describe a current health policy issue relative to the scope of practice for the role of the NP
that is important to you. Appraise the implications of this policy and analyze where the
policy issue is in the policy-making process.
Included a reference list at the end of this section hear before starting section B below, it
should have a minimum of 4 references for this section.
SECTION B (1.5 pages minimum)
Health and Wellness Promotion and the NP
A focus on Health and Wellness Promotion is increasingly pertinent in U.S. Health care
systems. Review the National Prevention Strategy: America’s Plan for Better Health and
Wellness (Healthcare.gov, 2011) attached hear with the questions.
After you are finished reading, justify the role of the NP as a leader in Health and Wellness
promotion in your paper.
Include a reference list at the end of this section, it should have a minimum of 5 references
for this section.
Part 1
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PROMOTION AND THE NP 2
Effective advocacy begins with a comprehension of the key issues and positions that
influence nursing practitioner practice. The scope of the health practice laws is meant to rethink
the role played by nurse practitioners. There is a variety of current health policy issues relative to
the scope of practice for the role of the NP. One of the current health policy issues in health
workforce shortages. There is a perfect storm of unmet health care needs that is rapidly
approaching: for instance the patient numbers of aged people with health-related issues is
reaching intolerable levels, as a consequence of the retirement of large cohort of professionals.
Currently, the situation is such that the number of professional students that are meant to fill
these positions is simply not enough to meet the oncoming health service demands. The result is
ultimately an impending shortage in the workforce in proportions that cannot have precedence.
This policy is important to me and is relative to the scope of NP since NPs are the valuable
members of the healthcare system who serve in the capacity of primary care providers in the
broad range of outpatient and acute settings (NP Policy Essentials, 2014).
The implications of this policy issue is, of course, the need for nurses. The US has a
serious shortage of nurses in the health practice, and the recruitment of more nursing
professionals is one part of the solution. Additional teaching professionals are required to deal
with the issue from the root. There is a report referred to as “blowing open the Bottleneck” which
is a report that was initiated by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Center to spear head
Nursing in America and the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training
Administration, which basically provides an outline of the solutions whose initiation is underway
as a response to the shortages in the nursing faculty across the United States
(ExploreHealthCareers.org, 2014). This report further presents the “frontline healthcare
HEALTH POLICY AND SCOPE OF PRACTICE /HEALTH AND WELLNESS
PROMOTION AND THE NP 3
workforce” comprising of technicians, nurses, assistant nurse, and other providers involved with
the healthcare profession, which it describes as the foundation of a quality system of healthcare
delivery. The analysis of the report indicates that the frontline health workforce demand is
expected to face a 50 per cent increase in shortages to the faculty staff in the next half decade,
and the government is strategizing to ensure that the number of students in the “pipeline” are
enough or will reasonably deal with this impending eventuality. Therefore, the workforce
shortage policy issue is merely in the planning and implementation stage (chcf.org, 2014).
References
HEALTH POLICY AND SCOPE OF PRACTICE /HEALTH AND WELLNESS
PROMOTION AND THE NP 4
ExploreHealthCareers.org. (2014) Retrieved November 26, 2014, from
http://explorehealthcareers.org/en/issues/policy#shortages
NP Policy Essentials. (n.d.). Retrieved November 26, 2014, from
http://www.aanp.org/legislation-regulation/policy-toolbox/np-policy-essentials
Scope of Practice Laws in Health Care: Rethinking the Role of Nurse Practitioners. (n.d.).
Retrieved November 26, 2014, from http://www.chcf.org/publications/2008/01/scope-of-
practice-laws-in-health-care-rethinking-the-role-of-nurse-practitioners
Part 2
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America’s Plan for Better Health and Wellness (Healthcare.gov, 2011) is a national
prevention strategy that aims at guiding the US in the most achievable and effective means of
improving wellbeing and health. This is a strategy that prioritizes the prevention through the
integration of actions and recommendations across the wide realms of health improvement to
save lives. The strategy brought forth envisions a strategy oriented to prevention where the sector
network as one recognizes the value of health for families, individuals, and the community and
hence join forces to achieve health outcomes that are better for Americans. The role of Nursing
Practice will, therefore, be the foci of the implementation of this strategy (Anderson &
McFarlane, 2013).
The role of the Nursing Practice as a leader in health and wellness promotion cannot be
stated enough in the national prevention strategy. This is because NP encompasses all the
dimensions of the prevention strategy as it interweaves into all aspects on the citizen’s lives, from
how to where people live, work, learn and play. The NP, therefore, covers everyone included in
the strategy from businesses, government, educators, communities, healthcare institutions and
every single American. The NP has a central role in the implementation of this strategy to create
a healthier nation (Andrews et al., 2012).
In fact, the Nursing Practice is the backbone of this comprehensive plan and will be
fundamental in achieving the target of increasing the number of healthy Americans in all life
stages. NP will actively be involved in actions to help Americans stay fit and healthy (Anderson
& McFarlane, 2011). They will do this by helping in the building of safe and healthy community
environments, expanding quality preventive services in both community and clinical settings,
empowering people to make healthy decisions, and eliminating health disparities with assistance
HEALTH POLICY AND SCOPE OF PRACTICE /HEALTH AND WELLNESS
PROMOTION AND THE NP 6
from the government (American Nurses Association (ANA), 2012). They will, therefore, be
involved in a wide and broad effort for promotion of wellness and health hence settling the
overarching objective of the national prevention strategy in increases the number of healthy
Americans in all stages of life. It is only through the nursing practice that evidence based
recommendations that are significant in the improvement of the nations health will be achieved,
since the NP will be actively engaged in the achievement of the strategic directions that are
outlined in the strategy (Andrews, 2013). Through the implementation of health policy
enrichment programs, the Nursing Practice will mitigate the policies and issues that affects
providers and patients as well as they provide services in the various levels in the various
different levels of the American society (Aronson et al, 2012a).
References
HEALTH POLICY AND SCOPE OF PRACTICE /HEALTH AND WELLNESS
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American Nurses Association (ANA) (2012). Public health nursing: Scope and standards of
practice. Washington, DC: American Nurses Publishing.
Anderson, E. T., & McFarlane, J. (2013). Community as partner: Theory and practice in nursing
(6th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer Health / Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Anderson, N.L.R., Calvillo, E.R., & Fongwa, M.N. (2012). Community-based approaches to
strengthen cultural competency in nursing education and practice. Journal of
Transcultural Nursing, 18(1-S), 49s-59s.
Andrews, J. O., Bentley, G., Crawford, S., Pretlow, L. & Tingen, M. S. (2013). Using
community-based participatory research to develop a culturally sensitive smoking
cessation intervention with public housing neighborhoods. Ethnicity and Disease, 17(2),
331-337.
Aronson, R.E., Wallis, A.B., O’Campo, P.J., Whitehead, T.L., & Schafer, P. (20012a).
Ethnographically informed community evaluation: A framework and approach for
evaluating community-based initiatives. Maternal Child Health Journal, 11(2), 97-109.