Advocacy Through Legislation Essay
Advocacy Through Legislation Essay
A concern or problem in California State that has the capacity to be advocated through legislation
| Problem
In no more than 250 words, describe the concern or problem, who is affected, and the current ramifications. The consequences if the issue continues. |
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| Musculoskeletal and back injuries among the nursing staff is a major concern in hospitals operated by the California Department of Developmental Services (DDS) or California department of corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). Patient handling, which often entails manually repositioning, moving, or lifting patients is a common practice in the hospitals which puts nurses at the risk of sustaining musculoskeletal injuries. These injuries, often to nurses and other health care providers’ arms, legs, backs, and necks are devastating and severely hamper the capacity of nurses to effectively perform routine duties or entirely end their careers. Nurses encouraged assisting patients to move out of bed and move, although the patients may have limited capability to move on their own. Lifting patients and assisting them to move around their rooms, repositioning them, and other activities requiring physically supporting the patients, nurses at are an increased risk of injury. Advocacy Through Legislation Essay
. Manual handling puts patients at a risk for pain, injury, and adverse health outcomes, partially as a result of the effects on caregivers. A caregiver with an injury or under pressure is has a less likelihood of performing high-risk patient handling tasks, and could in addition unintentionally cause patient skin damage or injury during a transfer(Humrickhouse, & Knibbe, 2016). If the problem continues, nurses in the aforementioned the hospitals will continue undertaking manual patient handling activities, such as repositioning, transferring, and lifting they will continue sustaining injuries which will cause functional disability, pain and make them take time away from work. Hospitals will continue incurring extra costs in medical expenses, litigation and disability, and litigation. ORDER A PLAGIARISM -FREE PAPER NOW
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| The idea of Addressing the problem
An idea for addressing the issue and why legislation is the best course for advocacy. |
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| The problem of nurses in my organization sustaining injuries when handling patients can be addressed by legislation that mandates hospitals operated by the California DDS and CDCR to implement safe patient handling (SPH) programs. The legislation is the best course of advocacy because although California state has a safe patient handling law that mandates general acute care hospitals to implement SPH policy as a portion of the illness and injury program, the law does not apply to hospitals run by the California DDS and the California CRDC. When enacted, a safe patient handling law will mandate these hospitals to implement SPH programs to ensure the safety of both health care workers and patients. According to Weinmeyer (2016), SPH programs comprise developing policies for safe handling of patients, creating guidelines for proper training of staff, and the purchase of appropriate equipment for assisting health care providers securely lift and move clients. All decisions are made by a safe patient handling committed which comprises health care professionals who are tasked with providing direct care at an assigned facility along with specialists who are knowledgeable in the implementation and oversight of SPH programs. Advocacy Through Legislation Essay
If safe patient handling law for hospitals operated by California DDS and the California CDCR is passed in California and programs are implemented across all health care facilities and settings in California, the results will be impressive. If manual patient lifting is replaced with lifting devices and equipment, there will be a decrease in patient handling injuries, and nurses and the hospitals will become more productive.
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| Research the Issue
Substantive evidence-based findings that support my idea for addressing the problem |
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| Evidence 1 | There is solid evidence suggesting that conventional approaches to handling patients, for instance, manual handling along with body mechanics training are ineffective in eradicating caregiver injuries due to patient handling (Olinski & Norton, 2017). | |
| Evidence 2 | Research has demonstrated that the introduction of a SPH program by a health facility can minimize the occurrence of numerous and severe injuries among health care providers, lessen restricted duty days and lost time, and save on workers’ compensation costs (Olinski & Norton, 2017). | |
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| Stakeholder Support
Discuss the stakeholders who would support the proposed idea and explain why they would be in support. |
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| Stakeholder(s) Supporting 1 | Nurses and nurse assistants working in hospitals operated by the California DDS and the California CDCR would support the proposed idea because they are the victims of patient handling injuries. | |
| Stakeholder(s) Supporting 2 | Professional organizations including the California Association for Nurse Practitioners and the American Nurses Association would support the proposed idea because they support SPHM and advocate for safety in work environments. | |
| Stakeholder Opposition
Stakeholders who would oppose the proposed idea, why they would be in opposition and how I would prepare to debate or converse about these considerations |
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| Stakeholder(s) Opposed 1 | Hospital leaders would oppose the idea because they usually consider nurses and nurse assistants as secondary. I would urge leaders to recognize nurses as vulnerable to disable workplace injuries and make responding to this issue a priority. | |
| Stakeholder(s) Opposed 2 | Hospital administrators would oppose the idea because of fear of incurring huge costs in implementing SPHM programs. I would urge administrators to focus on safety on nurses rather than on making profits. Advocacy Through Legislation Essay | |
| Financial Incentives/Costs
The financial impact for the issue and the idea (added costs, cost savings, increased revenue, etc.) |
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| Overexertion injuries increased healthcare costs that are incurred when treating these injuries and reduced productivity and morale and increased absenteeism among injured nurses. Direct and indirect costs of injuries include overtime( that is, permitting injured employees to continue working but scheduling more nurses to carry out duties that are outside the restrictions of injured staff ), training costs( that is providing training staff to enable them to undertake assignments normally undertaken by injured staff), and costs of recruiting new staff to replace staff who resign following injuries (Olinski, & Norton, 2017).
Implementation of the SPH program in hospitals operated by the California DDS and the California CDCR can result in considerable drops in the severity and number of injuries which can yield noteworthy financial savings. According to Weinmeyer (2016), even though the costs of establishing SPH programs might be high, for instance, the cost of training employees and purchasing equipment and devices, the financial benefits of these programs are far much compared to the cost of implementing them. Research has demonstrated that capital investments in SPH programs can be recovered in five years or less. Implementation of 800, 000 dollars safe lifting program at Stanford Medical Center led to net savings of 2.2 million dollars within five years. |
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| Legislature: Information Needed and Process for Proposal
Discuss how to advocate for your proposal using legislation. Include the following: |
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| The name and complete contact information for the legislator. | Senator Kamala D. Harris
Mailing Address: 112 Hart Senate Office Building |
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| The steps for how I would present this to my legislator. | I would present my idea to the Senator by writing a letter in which I will present my idea and argue why legislation mandating all hospitals operated by the California DDS and the California CDCR to adopt SPH programs is essential. I will use my full credentials when signing my letter to get the attention of my legislator. Advocacy Through Legislation Essay | |
| The process if your legislator chooses to introduce my idea as a bill to congress. | If the senator is impressed with my idea, she will draft a bill and introduce the bill to the senate. The bill will be referred to the Senate floor and committees who will vote for or against the bill. If the Senate passes the bill, it will be moved to the House, where it will be voted for or rejected. If the bill is passed by the House, it will have been approved by both the House and the Senate, after which it will be referred to the president for approval and signing into law. | |
| Christian Principles and Nursing Advocacy
How principles of a Christian worldview lend support to legislative advocacy in health care without bias. |
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| Nurses are obliged to and have always been advocates. Nurses have continually worked to improve the health of populations, communities, and individuals. Nurses are responsible for advocating for health policies to improve access to care and resources by vulnerable populations irrespective of age, ethnicity, religious beliefs, gender, and sexual orientation. Nurses’ influence in health policies safeguards patient safety, increases care quality, and fosters their access to the needed resources, and promotes care quality. vulnerable populations are socially excluded which makes them invisible and voiceless in the society and thus cannot advocate for policies that will eradicate injustices that they have historically experience in the health care industry Davoodvand et al (2016), claim that social justice is one of the basic needs. Since nurses closely interact and engage with patients, they better understand their problems and are in an ideal position to provide justice for their clients. Therefore, nurses have an opportunity to influence policies through legislative advocacy.
From the perspectives of the Christian worldview, advocacy is God’s calling and nurses are called to advocate for their patients to get justice. In Iasiah1:7, the Bible states that we are responsible for seeking justice, with Isaiah 58:6 stating that we are required to break the shackles of injustice. Justice intends to return things to their rightful place. If an individual is unable to access health care services as a result of his or her skin color, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, or race, it is not right and it equates to injustice. Christian advocacy aims at bringing justice to individuals facing poverty and discrimination and assist God’s children to fully live their lives( John 10:10). Advocacy Through Legislation Essay |
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References
Davoodvand, S., Abbaszadeh, A., & Ahmadi, F. Patient advocacy from the clinical nurse’s viewpoint: a qualitative study. Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, 9, 5
Humrickhouse, R., & Knibbe, H. J. (2016). The Importance of Safe Patient Handling to Create a Culture of Safety: An Evidential Review. The Ergonomics Open Journal, 9, 27-42. doi 10.2174/1875934301609010027
Olinski, C., & Norton, C. E. (2017). Implementation of a Safe Patient Handling Program in a Multihospital Hospital System From Inception to Sustainability: Success Over 8 Years and Ongoing Challenges. Workplace Health & Safety, 65(11), 546-559. https://doi.org/10.1177/2165079917704670
Weinmeyer, R. (2016). Safe Patient Handling Laws and Programs for Health Care Workers. AMA Journal of Ethics, 18(4), 416-421. doi: 10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.4.hlaw1-1604.
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Advocacy Through Legislation Essay
