The Implications of Health Care Reform, Essay Example

Nurses are in a good position to foster civil and positive working environments because they are on the front line, dealing with the patients directly. Nurses can help other nurses and the aides be better caregivers by example and making sure that patients are happy, safe and taken care of. Part of the working environment has to do with the condition and the perceptions of the patients. Healthcare reform impacts the nursing profession because it allows for more patients to be treated and admitted in healthcare facilties, due to previously uninsured people now being able to have access to treatment. However, there are still many people who are uninsured. Nurses can help explain to the uninsured how to get insured through programs that are a result of healthcare reform, but they also still have an obligation to treat all patients the same, so that their rights are not violated. There are times when the underinsured may have been treated unequally to those with insurance, but now healthcare reform has resulted in a change in this type of behavior in the healthcare industry in the United States.

Additionally, nurses can be better caregivers, as it relates to healthcare reform, by being educated about it. It is important to understand all the implications of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which is designed to protect all patients regardless of insurance status. This is particularly important in the nursing profession because it involves adequate care coordination of community-based care (Cowen & Maisano, 2013). This is another example of how nurses can help create positive and civil enivironments in the workplace for patients and co-workers. Coordinating community-based care activities will give nurses an opportunity to be more hands-on with the patients and understand more about them and their healthcare needs.

References

Cowen, A., & Maisano, P. (2013, Sep-Nov). Nursing Education: The New Era of Healthcare. Oklahoma Nurse, 58(3), 6.

Kollas, T. (2002). Federal Power, States’ Rights, Individual Rights:: Mentally Disabled Prisoners and the Supreme Court’s New Activism. William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal, 10(3), 861-896.