What issues are affecting healthcare? How do these issues affect you, your practice, and/or your organization? How do these issues affect your patients?
Throughout this course you have identified and supported an advocacy priority, focusing specifically on how best to move the agenda forward. Now is your opportunity to explore a specific issue affecting the nursing profession in the United States and a global health issues.. Nurses hold a front row seat to what is happening in healthcare. Nurses can see what is working and what is not working in the field on a daily basis. While it can be easy to focus specifically on our own practice and organization, healthcare is a global practice. And considering the impact of global initiatives, policy issues affecting nurses on a global scale can help us to better understand, remedy, connect, and even prepare for current or potential national issues.
For this Discussion, consider what you have learned thus far about the political and social determinants of health and healthcare policy and advocacy. Identify a nursing issue that many impact you. What can be done about this issue? Who is impacted by this issue? How might policy remedy this issue?
Sample Answer
The modern nursing profession is positioned at the intersection of a domestic staffing crisis and a global health landscape that is increasingly volatile. To address your question, I will identify a nursing advocacy priority—Safe Staffing Ratios—and connect it to the global issue of Health Worker Migration and Shortages.The modern nursing profession is positioned at the intersection of a domestic staffing crisis and a global health landscape that is increasingly volatile. To address your question, I will identify a nursing advocacy priority—Safe Staffing Ratios—and connect it to the global issue of Health Worker Migration and Shortages.
The Core Issue: Nursing Shortages and Safe Staffing
Domestically, the most pressing issue is the lack of federally mandated nurse-to-patient ratios. While California and Oregon have made strides, most of the U.S. operates under "flexible" staffing that often leads to burnout and safety risks.
How it affects me/Practice/Organization: For the DNP-prepared nurse, this issue manifests as moral injury. We are trained to provide high-quality, evidence-based care, but organizational constraints force us into "task-oriented" nursing rather than "patient-oriented" care. Organizations face high turnover costs, often spending 1.5x to 2x a nurse's salary to recruit and train a replacement.