Resource 1: CLC Health Issue Analysis Overview

Group work has benefits and liabilities. EVERYONE assigned to a CLC is expected to equally participate in the work in terms of time and quality of effort. Each participant has strengths and it is reasonable to apportion the work to make best use of this. Some are natural leaders. Our strengths can be our greatest liabilities: No one wants to be bossed around no matter how skilled the boss is. Honest communication is critical to effective group work. The best way to avoid conflict is to set very clear expectations up front. Then, if someone does not do what is expected him/her, he/she can be referred to the original agreement rather than have the confrontation become personal.

Course instructors are able to observe the group process in the CLC forum. If the work takes place outside the forum, this information will be absent. Be certain (even if communicating via e-mail, phone, or face-to-face) to record the communication in the CLC forum.

CLC Project Overview

The purpose of this assignment is to critically analyze a health care issue through the focus of major concepts from each Topic. There are six components to this assignment after the CLC agreement is signed and the topic is identified. It is not expected that every member of the CLC group will contribute to each assignment, but that assignments will be divided fairly and equally among the group. Each of the written components of the CLC project will be 500-1,000 words. These papers should be in APA format with a title and a reference page. An abstract is not required. An introduction is required ONLY for Part 1 and is not required in any parts thereafter. It is the intention that if one were to take the six parts of this assignment and put them together, a comprehensive and cohesive analysis would be produced. Part 1 is worth 3 points and each of the subsequent parts (2-6) are worth 4 points each.

Topic 1 (10 points)

Check into the CLC group and provide contact information and describe prior experience, if any, with health policy. Locate and read the CLC Agreement provided by the instructor, located within the Additional Resources Folder in Canyon Connect. Choose one member to transfer the document to the CLC forum. Decide upon the process needed to fill out the contract. Everyone should participate. Before filling out the agreement, it may be helpful for each student to describe the most difficult, frustrating, helpful, or beneficial aspects of working on a collaborative project. Getting this type of information out in the open ahead of time may help to prevent conflict later on. Since no one is angry yet, you can comfortably list what is likely to make you angry and also what would make you satisfied.

Complete the CLC Agreement (except for the final block, which is used at the end). Select someone to submit the CLC Agreement by the end of Topic 1.

Topic 2 (10 points)

Initiate a conversation regarding potential topics of interest. This should be a health issue with national and international relevance that will be the basis for your final project. It may be helpful to identify a number of topics of interest and have individual group members do a quick survey of the literature to be sure that there is current information available. Revise the CLC Agreement with the choice of the topic identified in the title and re-submit the CLC Agreement. There is no formal writing requirement for the topic selection. It is merely a brief paragraph declaring your identified topic.

Topic 3 – Part 1 (50 points)

Research and outline the history of the health issue. Write a formal paper in APA format (500-1,000 words in length), describing the history of the issue. A title, introduction, and a reference page are required, but an abstract and conclusion are not. Include the following:

1. Influences such as determinants of health and socioeconomic status.

2. Past and present initiatives (private and public) to address the issue.

3. Outcomes that have been developed and utilized to measure progress on the issue.

4. The current status of the health issue based on measured outcomes.

Topic 4 – Part 2 (60 points)

Describe the national and international implications of the health issue. Write a formal paper (500-1,000 words in length), using APA format. Include a title page and a reference page. An abstract, introduction, and conclusion are not required. Include the following:

Scope and depth of the problem.
Countries that are faring better or worse than others.
How the U.S. ranks on this issue in relation to other countries.
Efforts of the World Health Organization and other agencies on this issue.
Existing disparities (include race, age, and gender, as appropriate) in relation to the issue – describe the populations that have emerged as being disadvantaged and why.
Topic 5 – Part 3 (60 points)

Write a formal paper (500-1,000 words in length), using APA format. Include a title and a reference page. An abstract, introduction, and conclusion are not required. Include a title page and a reference page, and the following:

Discuss past and present funding for initiatives that address the health issue. Include both public and private sources.
Analyze past and present quality initiatives that address the health issue. Include both public and private sources.
Differentiate how being insured versus uninsured impacts health outcomes relative to this issue;
Compare health outcomes for the issue between the U.S. and a country with universal health coverage.
Topic 6 – Part 4 (60 points)

Write a formal paper (500-1,000 words in length), using APA format. A title page and a reference page are required, but an abstract, introduction, and conclusion are not. Include the following:

Examine the previously addressed aspects of health policies, finance, global/national prevention, and/or treatment initiatives related to the health issue by identifying applicable ethics principles.
Differentiate how application of the identified ethics principles to the health issue has resulted in population disparities.
Hypothesize how existing disparities might be eliminated using alternate ethics principles.
Critique whether the applicable ethics principles are consistent with the ANA’s Code of Ethics for Nurses.
Topic 7 – Part 5 (60 points)

Write a formal paper (500-1,000 words in length), using APA format. A title page and a reference page are required, but an abstract, introduction, and conclusion are not. Include the following:

1. Discuss cultural beliefs and influences relative to the health issue.

2. Differentiate any religious/spiritual beliefs and values relative to the issue.

3. Appraise how religious/spiritual beliefs and values have influenced progress in addressing the issue – either negatively or positively.

4. Compare differences in ideologies related to the issue across political party lines, geographic regions, and countries of the world.

Topic 8 – Part 6 (60 points)

Write a formal paper (500-1,000 words in length), using APA format. A title page, conclusion, and a reference page are required, but an abstract and introduction are not. Include the following:

Assess the past and present impact nurses, including advanced professional/ advanced practice nurses, have made in addressing this health issue.
Describe how nurses can become more broadly involved with influencing health policy related to this issue. Include available resources.
Hypothesize how nurses can positively impact future outcomes related to the provision of care for persons affected by the health issue.
Synthesize all aspects of the health care issue through a summary conclusion, concisely tying up Parts 1-8 of the CLC project.

Assignment Details

Course Outcome covered in this Assignment:

MN507-5: Evaluate the role of health policy and organizational structure on quality improvement within health care environments.

Directions

For this Assignment, you will write a position paper in which you will choose and support a policy change which reinforces the role of the nurse as a leader in ensuring access to quality health care in developed and underdeveloped countries. You should approach this assignment from the perspective of your specialty track. Information which may be helpful in selecting a proposed policy change can be found in your textbook Health Policy and Politics: A Nurse’s Guide The word count for your position paper will be 1000 to 1600 words. You must support your work with at least eight scholarly peer reviewed articles. Your paper must include the following topics:

• Current nursing issues related to globalization of healthcare
• The proposed policy change
• Agenda setting strategies (Process by which your proposal will gain attention of stakeholders and/or the public)
• A model or theory that can be used to bring about the change
• Design strategies
• Implementation strategies
• Evaluation strategies
• Conclusion

Assignment Requirements

Before finalizing your work, you should:

• be sure to read the Assignment description carefully (as displayed above);
• consult the Grading Rubric (under the Course Resources) to make sure you have included everything necessary; and
• utilize spelling and grammar check to minimize errors.

Your writing Assignment should:

• follow the conventions of Standard English (correct grammar, punctuation, etc.);
• be well ordered, logical, and unified, as well as original and insightful;
• display superior content, organization, style, and mechanics; and
• use APA formatting and citation style.

To Prepare:

• Review the Healthcare Program/Policy Evaluation Analysis Template provided in the Resources.
• Select an existing healthcare program or policy evaluation or choose one of interest to you.
• Review community, state, or federal policy evaluation and reflect on the criteria used to measure the effectiveness of the program or policy described.

The Assignment: (2–3 pages)

Based on the program or policy evaluation you selected, complete the Healthcare Program/Policy Evaluation Analysis Template. Be sure to address the following:

• Describe the healthcare program or policy outcomes.
• How was the success of the program or policy measured?
• How many people were reached by the program or policy selected?
• How much of an impact was realized with the program or policy selected?
• At what point in program implementation was the program or policy evaluation conducted?
• What data was used to conduct the program or policy evaluation?
• What specific information on unintended consequences was identified?
• What stakeholders were identified in the evaluation of the program or policy? Who would benefit most from the results and reporting of the program or policy evaluation? Be specific and provide examples.
• Did the program or policy meet the original intent and objectives? Why or why not?
• Would you recommend implementing this program or policy in your place of work? Why or why not?
• Identify at least two ways that you, as a nurse advocate, could become involved in evaluating a program or policy after 1 year of implementation.

This assignment has many different steps to it. Be sure to check off each one so you know that you accomplished it. You will be creating a personal résumé in Microsoft Word, revising your PowerPoint presentation from Week 5 Discussion, and then zipping these files along with your Excel spreadsheet that you created for Week 4 Project into a compressed folder to upload to the Week 5 Project submission folder.

Your résumé will be based upon résumés in your field that you found for Week 3 Discussion. You will include your experiences no matter how few they are at this time. Include what information you have now and you can keep adding skills and experiences to your résumé as you complete classes and change jobs. Below are tips and criteria to meet as you create your résumé.

Tip: You learned about tables in Week 2. Tables are great for creating résumés. Most of the time borders are turned off on the tables after the résumé is created although sometimes a top or bottom border is turned on to separate categories.

Part I: The Resume

• Create your résumé based on the following criteria in Microsoft Word and save it as W5P_Resume_LastName.docx. Remember that the program will automatically add the extension of .docx.

1. Ensure that the résumé was logically laid out and easily understood
2. Create categories: create distinct separation and identification of important line-item job skills and experiences using bullets or numbers with appropriate application.
3. Have content separation: provide a distinguishing feature that separates one line or paragraph from the others.
4. Modify text: modify default typeface in one line or section and modify the default color or style of a line or section.
5. Modify text size: modify the default typeface size by changing the points in at least one line on the page
6. Create an overall professional look to your résumé.
7. Include a header with your name and include page numbers. In reality, you would only do this if your résumé was more than one page but you are demonstrating your skills in this document.

Part II: The PowerPoint and Zipped Folder

1. Revise the PowerPoint presentation you created in Week 5 Discussion based on feedback you received in the Week 5 Discussion threads. If no suggestions for improvement were made, try something new on a slide and document that. Make sure that you describe the changes you made in the Notes section of the changed slides. If you had not done so before, compress all graphics.
2. Create a new folder called W5P_LastName. Put your résumé, your revised PowerPoint file, and your Excel file from Week 4 Project into this folder and “zip” the folder following directions below to upload one file to the Dropbox. This is a handy way to treat multiple files. Once uploaded, be sure to download and unzip your folder to make sure that it contains exactly what you want in it. Sometimes in a rush, students upload empty folders and lose one-fourth of their grade for the class. Don’t let this mistake happen to you!

* To zip the folder on a PC:

• Right-click on the main folder (W5P_LastName).
• From the drop-down menu select Send To -> Compressed (zipped) Folder
• Attach the resulting ZIP file to your response in the classroom.

* To zip the folder on a MAC:

• Right-click on the main folder (W5P_LastName).
• From the drop-down menu select Compress.
• Attach the resulting ZIP file to your response in the classroom.

Scenario 2:

A 44-year-old obese female is admitted to the emergency room with fever and severe abdominal pain on the upper right side that radiates to the scapula. She states that she feels nauseated. She states that the pain began at a friend’s house during a party and is becoming more severe. You can see that she is quite uncomfortable.

1. What could be the underlying cause of these symptoms?
2. What examinations would you perform? Why?
3. What laboratory tests would be needed to confirm possible differential diagnoses?
4. What pharmaceutical drugs are approved for treating the diagnosis that you concluded for this case?

Citations should conform to APA guidelines. You may use this APA Citation Helper as a convenient reference for properly citing resources or connect to the APA Style website through the APA icon below.