Running head: NATIONAL HEALTHCARE ISSUE National Healthcare Issue
Melissa Corbin Dr. Betty Joubert Walden University NURS 6053 6/6/2021 1 NATIONAL HEALTHCARE ISSUE 2 National Healthcare Issue In recent decades, scientific progress plays a significant role in massive improvements in the healthcare system. Health care administrators work tiredly and put more effort into discovering new methods of serving the communities’ health needs. In addition, the practitioners stay updated with the current health measures to help their patients. However, there exist some national health issues that have negative impacts on the healthcare system. The organization should address these problems to become more effective and attain a good relationship between nurses and patients. Covid-19 is one of the major issues affecting home-based care practitioners. NURS 6053 Ethical Challenges in the Healthcare Industry Essay
The pandemic has disoriented daily activities for healthcare professionals leading to burnout and a shortage of nurses. Effects of Covid-19 on home health care nurses Covid-19 leads to increased demand for more home care nurses. Before the covid-19 outbreak, health care practitioners focused on performing their duties in hospitals. Some nurses took care of patients at their homes though it was not at a higher rate. The pandemic led to lockdown and restriction of movements from one place to another. The government gave these orders to prevent the spread of disease from different regions. In this case, people could not move from their homes to health facilities for checkups and medical attention. NURS 6053 Ethical Challenges in the Healthcare Industry Essay
Nurses have to offer home care services to save the communities’ lives. However, before covid-19, home care nurses were not enough (Reddy, Stall, & Rochon, 2020). Individuals with no severe pandemic symptoms do not need to be hospitalized, calling for more nurses. People who recover from covid-19 at the hospitals need follow-up in their homes. Moreover, a group of elderly adults is not willing to stay in nursing homes due to the fear of contracting covid-19. These elderly individuals require more nurses to take care of them at their homes. NATIONAL HEALTHCARE ISSUE 3 The shortage of home health care nurses leads to burnout. Home health care nurses are vulnerable as they must take care of more patients than they can handle. Reddy et al. (2020) state that the nurses take care of about 60% of the minority groups who are more susceptible to covid19 illness and death. NURS 6053 Ethical Challenges in the Healthcare Industry Essay
Sometimes, the practitioners are forced to decide whether to give services to this group as many lack health insurance. Considering that one-third of home caregivers are fulltime workers, this will overwhelm them as they need to take more patients. As a result, this will lead to work burnout, and it will be difficult for nurses to offer quality services. Home caregivers can spread covid-19 from one patient to another. The shortage of workers makes the nurses move to numerous homes to offer their services. For this reason, it increases the risk of bringing the coronavirus, especially to vulnerable groups such as the elderly and minorities (Reddy et al., 2020). Alternatively, the caregivers are susceptible to the exposure of contracting covid-19. Mainly, the handling of multiple patients increases their susceptibility rate. NURS 6053 Ethical Challenges in the Healthcare Industry Essay
Al Thobaity, A., & Alshammari, F. (2020). Nurses on the Frontline against the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Integrative Review. Dubai Medical Journal, 3(3), 87–92. The article indicates that the covid-19 has more impacts on the health and life of individuals all over the world. The healthcare systems and providers are not exempted from these severe impacts. According to Al Thobaity & Alshammari (2020), nurses experience nursing shortage and medical supplies, and burnout while handling covid-19 patients. The exploration of these issues helps the healthcare system develop and support plans and protocols to relieve nurses suffering. These strategies will help to improve frontline practitioners’ preparedness while handling covid-19. NURS 6053 Ethical Challenges in the Healthcare Industry Essay
Al Thobaity & Alshammari (2020) recommend that nurses be given all NATIONAL HEALTHCARE ISSUE 4 medical supplies like PPEs to protect them from contracting covid-19. The authors continue to endorse disaster plans to guide the nurses before, during, and after the crises. Purba, A.K. (2020). How should the role of the nurse change in response to Covid-19? Nursing Times [online]; 116( 6), 25-28. The article analyzes the impacts of covid-19 to the healthcare practitioners and community. During the pandemic, there are rules the government imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Examples of these laws are lockdown and closure of schools and workplaces. NURS 6053 Ethical Challenges in the Healthcare Industry Essay
Purba (2020) points out that people were to move out of their homes to get necessities and seek medical help. However, the success of observing these control measures involves the inclusion of all societal groups. The vulnerable groups are at a high risk of contracting the covid-19 disease. These susceptible individuals fall into the elderly, disabled, and minority category and have difficulties coping with the pandemic. By failing to consider these groups will deepen health inequalities and worsen their health issues. Purba (2020) challenges the nurses to address these disparities to avoid burnout. NURS 6053 Ethical Challenges in the Healthcare Industry Essay
He suggests that the practitioners should tackle health social determinants, support and advocate those susceptible to the effects of covid-19. Strategies that will help nurses to cope with covid-19 in line of duty. The nurses should protect themselves and their patients from contracting covid-19. Since the pandemic outbreak, healthcare practitioners changed their focus from hospital care to homebased services—the shifting results from the covid-19 control measures issued by the government (“Association of Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses”). Nurses move to different homes due to a shortage of home caregivers to meet their daily goals (Reddy et al., 2020). As a result, this increases the contracting rate between the patient and practitioner. Therefore, nurses NATIONAL HEALTHCARE ISSUE 5 should access personal protective equipment and undergo regular covid-19 testing not to transmit the virus to their patients. NURS 6053 Ethical Challenges in the Healthcare Industry Essay
The government needs to hire and recruit more nurses amid covid-19. Medical practitioners experience burnout due to handling more patients and working for long hours. During the pandemic, normal working must change whereby elderly practitioners were to work from home. In return, the workers had to step in and work longer than usual and handle more patients. Hence, this increases their burnout levels that lower productivity (Reddy et al., 2020). NURS 6053 Ethical Challenges in the Healthcare Industry Essay
The hiring of more nurses will reduce workload and enable the workers to provide quality services. Conclusion National health issues are inevitable in healthcare facilities all over the world. The management should address these problems to improve the quality of services they offer. Covid19 is one of the significant issues that is currently affecting nurses. NURS 6053 Ethical Challenges in the Healthcare Industry Essay
The articles mentioned above explain the pandemic impacts such as nurse burnout and shortages and how they affect the home-based healthcare system. More so, to curb the spread of covid-19, nurses must have access to personal protective equipment. The government should hire more nurses to avoid shortage and burnout. NATIONAL HEALTHCARE ISSUE 6
References Al Thobaity, A., & Alshammari, F. (2020). Nurses on the Frontline against the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Integrative Review.
Dubai Medical Journal, 3(3), 87–92. Association of Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses – AAPPN. (2021, January 21).
Get Involved. Association of Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses. https://www.aappn.org/advocacy/get-involved/ Purba, A.K. (2020).
How should the role of the nurse change in response to Covid-19? Nursing Times [online]; 116(6), 25-28. Reddy, M., Stall, N., & Rochon, P. (2020, May 18).
How coronavirus could forever change home health care, leaving vulnerable older adults without care and overburdening caregivers. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/how-coronavirus-could-.
Learning Resources NURS 6053 Ethical Challenges in the Healthcare Industry Essay
Required Readings
American Nurses Association. (2015). Code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements. Silver Spring, MD: Author. Retrieved from https://www.nursingworld.org/coe-view-only
Note: Review all, with special attention to “Provision 6” (pp. 23–26).
Kelly, P., & Porr, C. (2018). Ethical nursing care versus cost containment: Considerations to enhance RN practice. OJIN: Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 23(1), Manuscript 6. doi:10.3912/OJIN.Vol23No01Man06. Retrieved from http://ojin.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Vol-23-2018/No1-Jan-2018/Ethical-Nursing-Cost-Containment.html
Milliken, A. (2018). Ethical awareness: What it is and why it matters. OJIN: Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 23(1), Manuscript 1. doi:10.3912/OJIN.Vol23No01Man01. Retrieved from http://ojin.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Vol-23-2018/No1-Jan-2018/Ethical-Awareness.html
Required Media NURS 6053 Ethical Challenges in the Healthcare Industry Essay
Laureate Education (Producer). (2012). Ethical, Moral, and Legal Leadership [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Laureate Education (Producer). (2009b). Working with Individuals [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.