Advocating for the Nursing Role in Program Design and Implementation
As their names imply, the honeyguide bird and the honey badger both share an affinity for honey. Honeyguide birds specialize in finding beehives but struggle to access the honey within. Honey badgers are well-equipped to raid beehives but cannot always find them. However, these two honey-loving species have learned to collaborate on an effective means to meet their objectives. The honeyguide bird guides honey badgers to newly discovered hives. Once the honey badger has ransacked the hive, the honeyguide bird safely enters to enjoy the leftover honey.
Much like honeyguide birds and honey badgers, nurses and health professionals from other specialty areas can and should collaborate to design effective programs. Nurses bring specialties to the table that make them natural partners to professionals with different specialties. When nurses take the requisite leadership in becoming involved throughout the healthcare system, these partnerships can better design and deliver highly effective programs that meet objectives.
In this Assignment, you will practice this type of leadership by advocating for a healthcare program. Equally as important, you will advocate for a collaborative role of the nurse in the design and implementation of this program. To do this, assume you are preparing to be interviewed by a professional organization/publication regarding your thoughts on the role of the nurse in the design and implementation of new healthcare programs.
Review the Resources and reflect on your thinking regarding the role of the nurse in the design and implementation of new healthcare programs.
Select a healthcare program within your practice and consider the design and implementation of this program.
Reflect on advocacy efforts and the role of the nurse in healthcare program design and implementation.
Instruction
Create an interview transcript of your responses to the following interview questions:
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- Tell us about a healthcare program, within your practice. What are the costs and projected outcomes of this program?
- Who is your target population?
- What is the role of the nurse in providing input for the design of this healthcare program? Can you provide examples?
- What is your role as an advocate for your target population for this healthcare program? Do you have input into design decisions? How else do you impact design?
- What is the role of the nurse in healthcare program implementation? How does this role vary between the design and implementation of healthcare programs? Can you provide examples?
- Who are the members of a healthcare team that you believe are most needed to implement a program? Can you explain why?
Solution
Advocating for the Nursing Role in Program Design and Implementation
Although the nurse’s primary role is to provide primary care to patients, nurses can also make positive contributions to the design and implementation of healthcare programs. They work with members of interdisciplinary teams to advocate for health programs that are aimed at improving patient outcomes (Scott & Scott, 2021). This assignment will present an interview transcript describing the role of the nurse in the design and implementation of a healthcare program intending to screen women in the community for breast cancer.
Tell us about a healthcare program, within your practice. What are the costs and projected outcomes of this program?
A healthcare program within my practice that needs the nurse’s contribution focuses on screening women in the community for breast cancer for free. Early detection of breast cancer influences the initiation of timely and management plans. Screening women who are at risk of developing breast cancer can facilitate early identification of the disease for early management (Grimm et al., 2022). The cost of the healthcare program is estimated to be 5,000 United States dollars. The expected outcome is an increase in the number of women in the community screened for breast cancer.
Who is your target population?
The target population in the health program is all women in the community aged 40 years and above. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2022), a person’s risk of developing breast cancer increases with age.
What is the role of the nurse in providing input for the design of this healthcare program? Can you provide examples?
The nurse plays an important role in providing input for the design of the healthcare program. For example, the nurse establishes the right procedure to follow during screening, ensuring that participants are recruited effectively into the program (Brown et al., 2021). Additionally, the nurse ensures that the vital signs of participants are obtained before the actual screening is conducted.
What is your role as an advocate for your target population for this healthcare program? Do you have input into design decisions? How else do you impact design?
As a nurse, I have an advocacy role in the healthcare program as I have to ensure that the program is safe for participants. For example, I have an input into the design decisions regarding how the screening can be done ethically. I also impact the design because I can influence decision-making regarding the specific parameters that should be collected during the screening.
What is the role of the nurse in healthcare program implementation? How does this role vary between the design and implementation of healthcare programs? Can you provide examples?
The nurse plays an important role in the implementation of the healthcare program. For example, the nurse obtains consent from participants when recruiting them into the program. Additionally, the nurse collects vital signs before the screening starts and records the right parameters during the actual screening. These roles vary between the design and implementation in that during the design phase, the nurse participates in decision-making to establish the right procedure to be followed during screening (Brown et al., 2021).
However, during the implementation phase, the nurse takes part in obtaining consent, collecting vital signs, and recording data obtained during the actual screening.
Who are the members of a healthcare team that you believe are most needed to implement a program? Can you explain why?
The members of a healthcare team that I believe is the most needed to implement the program are an oncologist, a registered nurse, a nurse informaticist, and a finance officer. These professionals must work together to ensure the success of the program.
References
Brown, T., Cruickshank, S., & Noblet, M. (2021). Specialist breast care nurses for support of women with breast cancer. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2(2), CD005634. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD005634.pub3
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022). What are the risk factors for breast cancer? https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/breast/basic_info/risk_factors.htm#:~:text=The%20risk%20for%20breast%20cancer,of%20breast%20and%20ovarian%20cancer.
Grimm, L. J., Avery, C. S., Hendrick, E., & Baker, J. A. (2022). Benefits and risks of mammography screening in women ages 40 to 49 years. Journal of Primary Care & Community Health, 13, 21501327211058322. https://doi.org/10.1177/21501327211058322
Scott, S. M., & Scott, P. A. (2021). Nursing, advocacy and public policy. Nursing Ethics, 28(5), 723–733. https://doi.org/10.1177/0969733020961823