Use of Legitimate Power Affecting Healthcare Policy, Research Paper Example

People consider power to be legitimate if this power is generally recognized by the masses. One primary influence of legitimate power is legislation that it put in place by governing bodies to ensure quality improvement in hospitals and other publically regulated health care institutions. Ultimately, such changes impact the macro, meso, and micro levels of health care that shape the nursing practice environment (Blackstone, 2010).

On the micro level, the nurse’s role and identity may need to be redefined as a consequence of legitimate power. For example, in the wake of the Affordable Care Act, it has become the nurse’s responsibility to learn more about health insurance to provide information to patients about coverage where relevant (HHS, 2015). This was traditionally only a role for medical billing, but it has become more important for the nurse to understand which care procedures would be covered by insurance and which would not to ensure that higher quality care can be delivered. At the meso level, such a change would impact the interaction between different groups at the hospitals. Nurses may need to work together more closely to determine how the Affordable Care Act will shape their future practices. Furthermore, nurses may need to work more closely with billing and the physicians to ensure that these changes are implemented smoothly. Last, on the macro, level, it is expected that legitimate power will reshape the health care system of a country. The Affordable Care Act, for example, increases access to health care and alters conventional practice is a manner that allows a greater number of people to access care. Therefore, a macro change could be said to alter the whole system.

Overall, it is important to understand how legitimate power can change practice because changes are implemented at many different levels. Understanding these interactions makes it easier for health care professionals to continue delivering quality care.

References

Blackstone, A. (2010). Principles of Sociological Inquiry: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods, 1.0. Retrieved from http://catalog.flatworldknowledge.com/bookhub/reader/3585?e=blackstone_1.0-ch02_s01HHS. (2015). About the Law. Retrieved from http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/rights/