Healthcare Systems, Politics, and Policy

Week 3 Assignment

Nursing and Healthcare Policy Paper

The Nursing and Healthcare Policy Paper assignment is due by Sunday, 11:59 p.m. (MT) at the end of Week 3. The guidelines for the Nursing and Healthcare Policy Paper are located in the course resource section.

This assignment will explore the American Nurses Association (ANA) and nursing position in healthcare policy. After identifying a healthcare policy or law initiative involving nursing, discuss the initiative and provide your own thoughts and possible actions with regards to the initiative. The websites listed in the web resource section for organizations discussed in the lesson may be useful for your research. Additionally, the Library NR 551 LibGuide (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. is an excellent resource for your research.

Healthcare Systems Politics & Policy Assignment

Purpose

The purpose of this assignment is to: a) examine and describe the American Nurses Association (ANA) and nursing position on healthcare policy, b) investigate a healthcare policy or law initiative involving nursing, c) examine implications of the initiative on patient outcomes or nursing practice c) present ideas in a clear, succinct and scholarly manner.

Course Outcomes

This assignment enables the student to meet the following course outcomes:

(CO2) Evaluate healthcare laws and policies that impact patient outcomes and nursing practice (PO 1-5)

(CO3) Compare healthcare policy development models and sources including regulatory and legislative processes at institutional, local, state, and national levels. (PO 1-5)

Due Date

Submit to the Dropbox by Sunday 11:59 p.m. MT at the end of Week 3.

Students are given the opportunity to request an extension on assignments for emergent situations. Supporting documentation must be submitted to the assigned faculty. If the student's request is not approved, the assignment is graded and a late penalty is applied as follows:

Monday = 10% of total possible point reduction

Tuesday = 20% of total possible point reduction

Wednesday = 30% of total possible point reduction

If the student's request is approved, the student will be informed of the revised due date. Should the student fail to meet the revised due date, the assignment is graded and a late penalty is applied as follows:

Monday = 10% of total possible point reduction

Tuesday = 20% of total possible point reduction

Wednesday = 30% of total possible point reduction

Total Points Possible: 175 points

Requirements

Assignment Criteria for the Paper:

Discuss both the ANA's position on healthcare policy and the position nursing is to take in being involved with healthcare policy.

Search current healthcare policy/law initiatives involving nursing and provide a description of an initiative and the involvement of nursing. The Week 3 lesson/lecture provides information about agencies and organizations involved in healthcare policy and law as well as current legislation.

Research and discuss the intended impact on patient outcomes or nursing practice.

Describe how you as a nurse are a stakeholder in this initiative and provide your own comments or position on the initiative.

Describe how you could or will get involved in this initiative to make a difference and move it forward to enactment.

Summarize content in concluding statements.

The body of the scholarly paper is to be 3-5 pages in length excluding title and reference pages.

Grammar, spelling, punctuation, references, and citations are consistent with formal academic writing and APA format as expressed in the 6th edition

Include a minimum of two references published within the past 5 years not including your textbook. References may include scholarly websites of organizations or government agencies and must be presented using APA 6th edition format for electronic media.

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.

 

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation

Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality

Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes

I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy

For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.