Health Policy

The purpose of this assignment is for you to identify an issue of concern for your role as an advanced practice nurse and to formulate a potential policy change to address that issue. There are many potential issues which can influence your practice setting or other issues which may negatively affect the patients with whom you work.

All of the course reading will help you to identify a topic for this assignment. You can think about the issue as related to your health promotion project. The policy you consider may be in reaction to the health promotion issue or something larger that is still related to that issue. There are hundreds of possible issues, but here is a list of a few to consider:

Child and elder care

Civil rights

Domestic violence

Drug abuse/addiction

HIV/AIDS

Homelessness

Native American and migrant workers' health

Long-term care

Immigration/illegal aliens

Legislative issues affecting advanced practice nursing

Barriers to practice

Access to care

As you begin to work on the possible policy change, the following ideas and steps should be considered:

Definition and description of the issue

Exploration of the background of the issue

Stakeholders

Issue statement or statement of clarity

Possible methods of addressing the issue

Goals and options for changes

Risks and benefits of the changes

Evaluation methodology

Recommendation or solution