Respond to at least two of your colleagues* on two different days by suggesting additional opportunities or recommendations for overcoming the challenges described by your colleagues.

Respond to at least two of your colleagues* on two different days by suggesting additional opportunities or recommendations for overcoming the challenges described by your colleagues.

Policy Review Opportunities

There are numerous opportunities for registered nurses (RNs) and advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) to participate in policy review. First, nurses can participate in a program evaluation design within their organization (Milstead & Short, 2019). During a program evaluation meeting, the team can discuss organizational policies, expected outcomes of the policies, data collection methods, and final result planning (Milstead & Short, 2019). To illustrate this, let us say that a hospital decides to implement mandatory influenza vaccines yearly for all employees. If an employee is non-compliant with the vaccine, they must wear a mask on the property from the start to end of flu season NURS 6050 Discussion Essay. The expected outcome would be that most hospital employees would be compliant in receiving the influenza vaccine. Data collection would consist of tracking the number of employees who received the vaccine versus the number of employees who declined to receive the vaccine. Based on the results, the program evaluation team may choose to implement additional restrictive measures for employees who decline the vaccine or offer incentives for employees who receive the vaccine to increase hospital-wide compliance. Second, as with aiding in policy-making, nurses can join a professional nursing organization to assist with policy review. Nurses played a significant role in implementing the Affordable Care Act by reviewing processes and supplying data to lawmakers (Milstead & Short, 2019).

Challenges and Strategies 

When reviewing policies, nurses are bound to face challenges. Very few prevention and health promotion interventions are applied in healthcare settings (Glasgow et al., 2003). Two challenges may arise in social media and public awareness, or lack thereof (Milstead & Short, 2019). Let us take the policy discussed above regarding compliance with the influenza vaccine within a hospital system. As we have seen with COVID-19, many individuals refuse the vaccine due to a lack of education and social media’s strong influence. Education of hospital employees should include facts and efficacy statistics of the vaccine to combat false information seen on the internet NURS 6050 Discussion Essay. To advocate for policy-review opportunities, nurses must know the positive impact they make at the state and national levels. In Hawaii, policy teams have worked together to reduce health disparities for state citizens (Shiramizu et al., 2018). Word of mouth is the best advocate in this scenario. Nurses should also be encouraged to participate on local nursing boards and with national nursing organizations. Being involved with nursing groups provides strength in numbers when it comes to policymaking and review.

References

Glasgow, R., Lichtenstein, E., & Marcus, A. (2003). Why don’t we see more translation of health promotion research to practice? Rethinking the efficacy-to-effectiveness transition. American Journal of Public Health, 93(8), 1261-1267.

Milstead, J., & Short, N. (2019). Health policy and politics: A nurse’s guide. Jones & Bartlett.

Shiramizu, B., Shambaugh, V., Petrovich, H., Seto, T., Ho, T., Mokuau, N., & Hedges, J. (2018). Leading by success: Impact of a clinical & translational research infrastructure program to address health inequities. NCBI. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-016-0302-4

sample response

You provide an excellent example about vaccine education and the importance of being able to dispel rumors regarding illnesses and vaccines. The hospital I work at has said that employees will likely have to wear barrier masks during cold and flu seasons in the future, regardless of vaccination status. After reading your discussion, I wonder if this will affect the influenza vaccine rate of employees at UW Hospital. UW has sent out numerous emails to staff about how to have conversations with patients and family members about conspiracy theories and misinformation surrounding Covid-19. I am grateful that my hospital supports us to have these conversations thoughtfully, but as a nurse, I am frustrated that these conversations even exist NURS 6050 Discussion Essay.

Nurses often discuss vaccines with patients and family members (Navin, Kozak, & Deem, 2020). Nurses need to develop a positive rapport and gain the trust of the individual before discussing the importance of vaccination, as this is a topic that some individuals do not take lightly. Education can occur through more than just discussion, though. As you pointed out, social media can be very polarizing and often supports the spread of vaccine misinformation. Enhanced vaccine education can occur through social media, virtual