Advocacy Actions for improving Healthcare through Legislation at Federal Level
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Advocacy Actions for improving Healthcare through Legislation at Federal Level
In bettering healthcare services, some actions need to be taken through legislation. Such actions that speak in favor of, argue, recommend a certain cause of action, defend, plead, or support specific helpful actions are called advocacy actions. The healthcare sector needs to keep upgrading to ensure that patients receive the best services, and this can get achieved by establishing particular advocacy actions. Two advocacy actions that need to be legislated towards improving healthcare are the entire patient’s family inclusion in their treatment and nurse staffing towards improving the nurse-to-patient ratio at the federal level.
By advocating for legislation to control nurses shortage through staffing, the healthcare sector will receive a boost, and this change will improve the sector. The nurse-to-patient ratio in the country is low such that some states suggest one nurse for five patients, which needs to be improved (King University Online, 2019). Nurses across the country should be enough and always available to provide the best care to fewer patients as opposed to the case today. Currently, nurses are required to provide care to many patients at a time, leading to a shortage, leaving healthcare to manage and deal with this growing problem. In some states and regions, individual healthcare facilities can set their nurse staffing standards that match the existing needs of nurses. That means there is a lack of uniformity and balance in the healthcare sector, and services are not quality. The purpose of nurse staffing advocacy action through legislation at the federal level is to enhance uniformity in the country, and no place will get advantaged over the other in terms of nurse-to-patient ratio. Healthcare services will be significantly improved when there is a standardized nurse-to-patient ratio across all states, where a nurse has few patients to care for (King University Online, 2019). When a nurse is assigned fewer patients to handle at once, there is effectiveness, and job satisfaction is improved. The actions should focus on the 1:3 nurse-to-patient ratio, and from this, nurse staffing procedures should get passed through the legislature to meet this requirement.
In some healthcare facilities, patients receive treatment without their family's full inclusion of the practitioners or disregard from the family members. It is better if there is a connection with the patient’s family to necessitate a good flow of their treatment, decision-making, patient safety, homecare assistance, and other services (Jazieh et al., 2018). The established connection can even help solve conflicts between a family member and a patient concerning their treatment, as the process involves three parties: the patient, the family member, and the healthcare facility (nurses and physicians in charge). This inclusion can help even in home treatments as the family members are assigned to care for the patient in home-based treatment (Jazieh et al., 2018). Even after the patient is discharged, their family is in charge of them, so their inclusion in the treatment is vital.
Overall, advocacy actions help in better situations. Moreover, when they are made through legislation, they become law, and anything enforced by the law becomes effective. Therefore, if nursing staffing to manage nurse shortage and inclusion of patients' families in their treatment process are legislated at the federal level, healthcare in the country will be improved as the actions will be enforceable by the law.
References
Jazieh, A., Volker, S., & Taher, S. (2018). Involving the family in patient care: A culturally tailored communication model. Global Journal on Quality and Safety in Healthcare, 1(2), 33–37. https://doi.org/10.4103/jqsh.jqsh_3_18
King University Online. (2019). Nurse-to-Patient Ratio: How Many are Too Many? Nursingcenter.com. https://www.nursingcenter.com/ncblog/december-2019/nurse-patient-ratio#:~:text=Their%20standard%20is%20one%20nurse