Assignment 1: Policy Brief

1. Write a policy brief related to healthcare and its affect on nursing practice.

2. Summarize the issue or problem that captures its essence.

3. The issue can be a bill that was passed in your state's recent legislative session, or

4. An issue presented in your state's legislative session but ‘died' in committee, or

5. Chose a regulation or judicial decision.

6. Make sure the bill has a financial impact on healthcare. (This section was not provided)

7. The bill's background should contain the following elements:

a. Name and sponsor of the bill (i.e. According to S. 1392 the bills sponsor is Sen. Markey, Edward J. (D-MA). He is affiliated with Committee: Senate - Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, The bill's action was dated at 5/20/15. The bill's history includes Sl 1392 - a bill to require certain practitioners authorized to prescribe controlled substance...

Then S. 1392 - the same content as previous extra with addes cosponsors from S1464.

b. Background information on the issue

c. Key regulatory and legislative history (This section was not provided) You may want to review URL
https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/1392

d. Available data such as statistics, demographics, recent trends, etc. (You will need this information for the upcoming assignments 2& 3. It was not included in the assignment brief).

e. Identify the bill's stakeholders

8. Policy alternatives (i.e., proposed solutions).

a. Present one alternative to your recommendation including the political perspectives associated with the alternative (You may want to incorporate the citation from which the recommendation was taken. Remember the assignment requires you discuss this section from a political perspective. This section was not clearly defined)

b. Present the advantages and disadvantages of one alternative (You will need to incorporate your citation support. This can give the content validity).

c. Provide a timetable for action (This section was not presented in the brief. You will need this information for the upcoming assignment.

9. Limited the brief to one page. Use the example format in Week 2 folder.

10. Provide APA title and reference pages inaddition to the brief one page.

11. Make a recommendation(s). Be certain to address its relationship to nursing

12. This assignment does not need to be submitted to TurnitinDirect.

Assignment 2: Scholarly Paper: Policy Analysis Paper

Assignment 2 builds upon Assignment 1. Expand the brief and write an in-depth analysis of your bill/issue. In this assignment, select the "point of view" you will represent in your written analysis (e.g. chronic illness in the elderly; reduce hospital readmission related to rural areas lack of providership; etc). Policy analysis and recommendations are particularly reliant on the perspective of the individual or an organization.

Assignment Criteria:

For this assignment you will build upon Assignment #1 brief and write an in depth analysis on yourslected bill:

1. Select a "point of view" you want to represent in the written analysis (e.g. chronic illness in elderly; reduce hospital readmissions related to rural areas lack of providership; etc.)

2. Make a case for or against the policy change.

3. Select the organization you want to represent for this assignment (i.e. legislative staff, hospital Chief Nursing Office, president of a professional nursing organization, state board of nursing, or a government official, etc.)

4. Follow the topic outline bullets below. Use each bullet as a level heading for your paper.

5. Search the literature for four (4) evidence-based interventions on the bill or policy of interest. The literature can be individual studies or systematic reviews. A systematic review counts as one (1) intervention. If using a systematic review, report on the review, not on the studies identified in the review. All of the studies MUST be intervention studies. Review what constitutes an intervention study.

o Identify the databases (e.g., CINAHL, Medline) and key terms used in initiating the collective search for all of the studies (not each study)

o Describe bill or policy found in the literature as it relates to your state and other states where the bill/policy has been implemented.

6. The scholarly paper should not more than six pages excluding the title and reference pages.

7. Include level 1 and level 2 headings, an introductory paragraph, bullet topics below and a conclusion.

8. Write the paper in third person, not first person (meaning do not use ‘we' or ‘I').

9. Four (4) references from professional peer-reviewed journals to support the paper. References should be from scholarly peer-reviewed journals (review in Ulrich Periodical Directory) and be less than five (5) years old.

10. APA 6th edition format is required (attention to spelling/grammar, a title page, a reference page, and in-text citations).

11. Submit the assignment to TurnitinDirectprior to the final submission to the assignment drop box. You have an opportunity to submit to the NSU Blackboard Turnitin at least twice for grammar and originality checks before the scheduled assignment due date. Note: It takes 24-hours to see the results for any subsequent submission after the first time.

12. Please be sure to review the originality report and make any needed changes.

13. Submit to the assignment drop box by the posted due date under the Assignment Dropbox.

Follow the bullet outlines (i.e. Use them as headings for the paper).

• Introduction (APA does not recommend using the heading "introduction." Use the title of the selected bill.

o Identify the organization that you represent.

o Clearly identify the issue or problem that was presented in the policy brief. Expand on its history.

• Provide any evidence-based guidelines published on the issue.

• Key Policy Events [regulatory and legislative]. Does any previous legislation or regulation precede this particular issue? Focus on those aspects of the legislation or regulation that relate to financial and or reimbursement effects. Lists are often helpful in this section of the paper.

• Financial Data. Provide financial data [either gathered from your facility or obtained in the literature], and apply the information to your issue - as a means of supporting your selection.

• Key/Major Stakeholders. Identify and explain the implication of their views. Include the bill/issue sponsor(s).

• Social, Economic, Ethical, Legal, and Political Factors. Identify the factors that may impact the various stakeholders or the decisions related to the issue. You are providing a context of your issue in this section, giving key demographic, financial and/or statistical information or noticeable trends of current studies that impact your issue. This is a substantial part of the analysis. Each topic of this section should be addressed separately. Relate each section to the population of interest selected for the bill or policy assignment.

• Policy intervention Options. Which options are available/relevant to this issue? Include whether there are any current legislative/regulation activities or proposals under consideration and how they relate or differ from what you are proposing/advocating. Offer alternative solutions and make sound reasons that support the alternatives you offer.

• Proposed Recommendation. From the research and your analysis what is the recommendation you propose (e.g. your scholarly perspective supported by scholarly citations)? You are making the recommendation based on the sound points and information provided in the preceding sections of your paper.

• Nursing Implications

Identify the implications for nursing as it relates to patient safety and quality.

You may want to conduct a literature review to identify other states or areas where the issue has been addressed. Review their nursing implications for your state consideration.

• Conclusion