Healthcare Reform Analysis, Research Paper Example

Recent years have seen a debate raging in the political spectrum that has spilled over in to the realm of health care and, specifically, the role of the advanced care nurse. The health care reform debate has had a great deal of impact on the field of advanced nursing. As the newly enacted law goes in to effect, nurses will find that their roles may shift, and the focus of the law will shift the responsibilities of the nurse in to new realms. Specifically, nurses have the opportunity to extend the scope of care more heavily in to the realm of healthy lifestyle management and end-of-life care. For the nurse practitioner, this means an increased focus on counseling and development of care procedures that put emphasis on these new issues (Neuman, 12).

One current critical issue in the field of advanced nursing is the increasing focus on healthy lifestyles. As people in the United States live increasingly unhealthy lifestyles, the focus of healthcare must shift to providing care and advice on subjects like diet and healthy living. This transformation has been spurred on by the Health Care Reform policy debate, in which nurses advised that policy reflect the need for a transformation in the nature of healthcare to focus on the lifestyles of patients and encourage living in a more healthy way to promote general healthcare in the population.

The scope of practice for nurses, including nurse practitioners, must advance further in to the counseling of healthy lifestyles. Nurses will need to monitor, advise, and encourage patients to change their lifestyles. Since nurses are on the front lines of patient care, they must be on the front lines of the focus on healthy living in patient care. This new focus must manifest itself in the nursing practice in the form of counseling, monitoring. For the nurse practitioner, this means an increased focus on developing guidelines and methodologies for an evolving system of patient care, with an eye toward the new goals of healthcare as a whole.

End of life care is a subsequent critical issue that must be taken in to account by advanced practice nurses. For patients approaching the end of their lives, it is important to discuss the issues associated with death, and the preferences of care. As with healthy living, nurses are on the front lines of healthcare and, therefore, must understand and implement end of life care plans, care, and advice. This was a controversial issue in the health care reform debates, mainly because it was misunderstood by the media. End of life counseling is important for any patient in his or her life planning. Like with the focus on healthy lifestyles, the role of the nurse practitioner as a counselor and source of information is one that is of the utmost importance to nurses and patients (Ridenour 230).

The fact that the debate has taken in to consideration the advancement of healthy lifestyles is proof that nursing and patient care are central to the policy debate (Hewlett 315). This brings to light the growing importance of nurses in the national debate on healthcare. Nurses are on the front lines of patient care and are therefore in a position to influence the debate in the future. In this way, nurses are more capable than ever of advancing ideas and innovating in the medical field. The health care reform debate is, at its heart, a debate with its focus on reducing costs and providing health care to Americans. Nurses are heavily affected by this focus.

The role of the nurse practitioner and of advanced nursing may change in the future to incorporate a higher level of counseling and life advice than before. Nurses may take on roles that were previously filled by fitness advisors, nutritionists, and psychologists. Rather than simply providing specific treatments for sickness, nursing can apply to lifestyle counseling as well as the advice that is sought by patients suffering from chronic illness and unhealthy lifestyles. This aspect of nursing could potentially develop a life of its own, spawning new fields of nursing. Nurses who regulate diets for inpatients may also provide advice, planning, and assistance for those who seek it, while nurses involved in end-of-life care will provide the comfort and advice necessary for those patients who seek those services (Olshanksky 192).

Of course, it will be the nurse practitioner who heads up these increasingly important aspects of nursing. With a focus on counseling and lifestyle management, nurses are in the best position to evaluate the healthy lifestyles, and nurse practitioners are in the best position to dictate to the nurses the methodology by which this form of nursing should be implemented. Working with physicians and other professionals, nurses can provide the important bridge between a patient and the healthy lifestyle that is recommended.

Bibliography

Dixon, Brian, E and Newlon, Christine M. “How Do Future Nursing Educators Perceive Informatics? Advancing the Nursing Informatics Agenda through Dialogue.” in Journal of Professional Nursing March 2010 Vol. 26, Issue 2, Pages 82-89.

Hewlett, Peggy O’Neill Bleich, Michael R. “The Policy and Politics of Nursing Education” in Journal of Professional Nursing November 2009 Vol. 25, Issue 6, Pages 315-316.

Neuman, Lois H. “Creating New Futures in Nursing Education: the Evolution of e-Nursing Education.” in Nursing Education Perspectives: January 2006, Vol. 27, No. 1, pp. 12-15.

Olshanksky, Ellen “Nursing’s Role in Health Care Reform” in Professional Nursing, July 2009, Vol 25, Issue 4 pp. 193-194.

Ridenour, Cindy “A Primer for Nurses on Advancing Health Care Reform” in Professional Nursing, November 2009, Vol 25, Issue 6 pp. 358-362.