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National healthcare issue and it’s Impact Please use APA style in test citation and references. Use two citations in each response.
If you were to ask 10 people what they believe to be the most significant issue facing healthcare today, you might get 10 different answers. Escalating costs? Regulation? Technology disruption?
National healthcare issue and it’s Impact These and many other topics are worthy of discussion. Not surprisingly, much has been said in the research, within the profession, and in the news about these topics. Whether they are issues of finance, quality, workload, or outcomes, there is no shortage of changes to be addressed.
In this Discussion, you examine a national healthcare issue and consider how that issue may impact your work setting. You also analyze how your organization has responded to this issue.
By Day 6 of Week 1
Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days who chose a different national healthcare issue/stressor than you selected. Explain how their chosen national healthcare issue/stressor may also impact your work setting and what (if anything) is being done to address the national healthcare issue/stressor. National healthcare issue and it’s Impact
Colleague 1
Covid-19 Vaccine Mandate
California Lawmakers are struggling with whether to impose a statewide COVID19 vaccination mandate. Democratic legislators believe mandates provide an opportunity to improve vaccination rates and help lessen the number of COVID19 cases. California Department of Public Health state that COVID19 vaccines are effective in reducing infection and serious disease and 63% of Californians are fully vaccinated (cdph.ca.gov, 2021). The proposal has not been introduced in a bill requires some serious considerations such as enforcement, cost, and implementation. The state has already ordered that healthcare workers must be fully vaccinated or submit to regular COVID19 testing. Labor unions in California are concerned about the possibility that workers could be responsible for paying for a weekly COVID19 tests if they remain unvaccinated. Hospitals are following all state guidelines by providing on site vaccinations, having vaccine employees upload their vaccine card to the system. Unvaccinated employees are to be tested twice a week or before every 36 work hours.
Healthcare workers are divided between fully vaccinated and unvaccinated throughout the nation. Dr. Yael discusses the underlying frustration he feels and states it is certainly testing the compassion he carries on a daily basis (Epp, 2021). Some of those who are not vaccinated feel discriminated against. This division between co-workers is causing a hostile environment. After management publicly displayed a list of unvaccinated employees one unvaccinated employee said she was confronted by a vaccinated employee. The vaccinated employee stated, “if the unvaccinated employees don’t want to get vaccinated, they should be assigned all COVID patients and once they get COVID they will want to be vaccinated or we can just intubate them.” This mandate is a major stressor for all employers and employees. Management trying to be in full compliance with the order by September 30,2021 forced them to publicly post a list in violation of HIPAA. Employees on a unit being divided causing a hostile environment will eventually lead to a decrease in patient care. According to an article, nurses face multiple psychosocial challenges, potentially affecting their mental well-being and ability to perform their task (Xu et al., 2021). The stress of the vaccine mandate has proven to effect the mental status of both vaccine and unvaccinated nurses. As these mandates continue the nursing shortage, burnout and stress of all healthcare workers increases.
Colleague 2
Workplace violence (WPV) is a recognized hazard in the healthcare industry. WPV is any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation, or other threatening disruptive behavior that occurs at the work site (OSHA, n.d.). Nursing staff experiencing violence in the workplace has become a workplace safety concern, particularly for psychiatric nurses. Nurses working in psychiatry environments have a 20 times higher rate of physical violence than working in a public health unit. Psychiatric nurses experience all types of patient aggression at higher rates than medical-surgical nurses do (Niu et al., 2019).
I work in an acute psychiatric unit where we specialized in caring for those with Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorders. I deal with this healthcare issue/stressor at work daily. Working in inpatient psych, especially patients that are Schizophrenic and Bipolar, we are dealing with very psychotic patients that have poor judgment and poor insight. These patients are not in their right state of mind and can’t control how they react to certain situations. Because of this, I have seen firsthand how violet patients can be with staff. Psych patients are very unpredictable and have poor impulse control.
This healthcare issue definitely impacts my work setting to a point where nurses don’t want to go into work. Nobody wants to go to work in fear of being hit or hurt by an agitated patient. Exposure to workplace violence can impact nurses’ resilience and levels of burnout (Komttila et al., 2020). At my organization I have not really seen anything done to address this issue. Although I know it may be hard for a psych unit environment to be completely free from violence, I feel that it is the Organization’s responsibility to ensure the safety of their staff. I propose that there be extra staff when there are acute patients present, especially when patients are getting admitted for being a danger to others. I believe there should always be security present. I also believe that the Organization should have a psychiatrist present, on the floor, at all times in case there is a need to order emergency medications.