NUR533 ETHICS AND POPULATION HEALTH
M1D1: Political Ideology in Public and Health Policy
As master’s prepared nurses our collective roles are shaped by public and health policy. These policies determine parameters for practice, working relationships with members of the interdisciplinary team, and the support and resources that are available to the individuals we care and advocate for. All of these are influenced by the prevailing political ideologies that frame policy.
Here is an example of an issue:
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg
In New York City former Mayor Michael Bloomberg (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. promoted, supported and signed legislation (the Smoke Free Air Act (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.) that banned smoking in public places. His actions were welcomed by those whose political beliefs supported the power of government to “do good” and take positive action on behalf of citizens. Others who believe that government should not interfere with personal rights saw this as evidence of “big government” and too much authority.
To prepare for your discussion, please complete all required reading and viewing before continuing.
For this discussion, select a public or health policy issue that is current and of interest to you. Discuss how that policy can be viewed differentially through the lens of political ideology.
Identify and describe the policy issue.
Explain how the issue can be viewed from the perspective of a minimum of two political ideologies.
Include an explanation of each ideology
What did you learn about yourself by taking the Political Typology Quiz?
Do you agree or disagree with the results of the quiz?
For your initial response, please be sure to address all of the above statements and/ or questions.
Use these EC Library and OWL resources for research assistance and to properly cite your work:
Master’s in Nursing Research Guide (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Plagiarism & Copyright (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Excelsior Library Writing Help (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
APA Citation Help (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Excelsior College Online Writing Lab (OWL) (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
How You Are Evaluate
You are expected to participate in academic conversations with peers and faculty to generate scholarly dialogue. Expectations for participation in the course discussions are described under the Discussion Rubric: Exploration, Spirit of Inquiry, and Engagement (interactions) when relating your experiences, opinions, viewpoints, and ideas supported by evidence.
Consult the Discussion Posting Guide for information about writing your discussion posts. It is recommended that you write your post in a document first. Check your work and correct any spelling or grammatical errors. When you are ready to make your initial post, click “Reply.” Then copy/paste the text into the message field, and click “Post Reply.”
To respond to a peer, click “Reply” beneath her or his post and continue as with an initial post.
Evaluation
This discussion will be graded using the discussion board rubric. Please review this rubric, located on the Rubrics page within the Start Here module of the course, prior to beginning your work to ensure your participation meets the criteria in place for this discussion. All discussions combined are worth 40% of your final course grade.
 
NUR533 ETHICS AND POPULATION HEALTH
M2D1: Policy Analysis and Political Activism to Enhance Nursing Practice.
The IOM report on the Future of Nursing was released in 2010; the recommendations of the report remain in the forefront of the professions policy agenda. Full implementation of these recommendations is critical to achieving optimal health outcomes for the American people. As nurses we are challenged to overcome the barriers to the recommendation; part of doing this is to make clear to all stakeholders the ways in wish failure to implement them harms the health of the nation.
An example of the relationship between the opportunity for nurses to practice to the full extent of their education and the outcome of this failure is found in the shortage of primary care providers in underserved rural areas. In states that do not allow advanced practice nurses (NPs) the opportunity for independent practice, MDs are not choosing to practice in these rural areas, and significant health disparities exist among the populations.
To prepare for your discussion, please complete all required reading and viewing, including the Module Notes, prior to continuing.
This discussion requires that you understand the relationship between the forces that shape health policy, the Framework for Action and the process for policy analysis. The purpose of the discussion is for you to identify opportunities to overcome a specific barrier to full implementation of the IOM report and the policy implication of doing that.
Please address the following:
Choose and identify a specific IOM recommendation as a focus for your posting.
Identify a barrier(s) to implementing that recommendation.
Explain how the barrier results in a specific health disparity or failure to achieve a desirable population based health outcome.
Describe the specific policy/ policies that would require change in order to over the p barrier.
For example if it is a payer issue related to Medicare, identify the current policy, rule or law that interferes
Explain the way in which the policy interferes with implementation.
Describe the actions a master’s prepared nurse can take within the policy arena to overcome this barrier.
For your initial response, please be sure to address all of the above statements and/ or questions.
Use these EC Library and OWL resources for research assistance and to properly cite your work:
Master’s in Nursing Research Guide (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Plagiarism & Copyright (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Excelsior Library Writing Help (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
APA Citation Help (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Excelsior College Online Writing Lab (OWL) (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
How You Are Evaluated
You are expected to participate in academic conversations with peers and faculty to generate scholarly dialogue. Expectations for participation in the course discussions are described under the Discussion Rubric: Exploration, Spirit of Inquiry, and Engagement (interactions) when relating your experiences, opinions, viewpoints, and ideas supported by evidence.
Consult the Discussion Posting Guide for information about writing your discussion posts. It is recommended that you write your post in a document first. Check your work and correct any spelling or grammatical errors. When you are ready to make your initial post, click “Reply.” Then copy/paste the text into the message field, and click “Post Reply.”
To respond to a peer, click “Reply” beneath her or his post and continue as with an initial post.
Evaluation
This discussion will be graded using the discussion board rubric. Please review this rubric, located on the Rubrics page within the Start Here module of the course, prior to beginning your work to ensure your participation meets the criteria in place for this discussion. All discussions combined are worth 40% of your final course grade.
 
 
NUR533 ETHICS AND POPULATION HEALTH
M3D1: Is Health Care a Right or a Privilege?
No unread replies. No replies.
Aspire Higher: My dream is social justice.The focus of this discussion is the question, “Is health care a right or a privilege?” While this is not a new question in the health care policy arena, it has great relevance today.  Societal views of an individual’s “right” to health care will drive policy decisions that determine accessibility and affordability of care.
Equally essential though is the query of ethics and social justice. It is critical to the role of the master’s prepared nurse to identify where one stands on this question and to understand how this reflects on one’s ethical values and perspective on social justice.
To prepare for your discussion, please complete all required reading and viewing, including the Module Notes, prior to continuing. You may also want to review the reading and viewing from Modules 1 and 2.
This activity asks you to discuss what you believe is the appropriate role of government in providing health care to the citizens of the nation. In other words, should this be a responsibility of government?
In your primary discussion post, respond to the question: “Is health care a right or a privilege?” in the following ways:
Analyze the presence of any ethical conflicts inherent in this statement.
Support your position with ethical principles reviewed in the module notes and readings (macro level of ethics).
Describe how your unique position is a socially just position and takes into consideration public policy and the values of the nursing profession (micro level of ethics).
For your initial response, please be sure to address all of the above statements and/ or questions.
Use these EC Library and OWL resources for research assistance and to properly cite your work:
Master’s in Nursing Research Guide (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Plagiarism & Copyright (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Excelsior Library Writing Help (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
APA Citation Help (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Excelsior College Online Writing Lab (OWL) (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
How You Are Evaluated
You are expected to participate in academic conversations with peers and faculty to generate scholarly dialogue. Expectations for participation in the course discussions are described under the Discussion Rubric: Exploration, Spirit of Inquiry, and Engagement (interactions) when relating your experiences, opinions, viewpoints, and ideas supported by evidence.
Consult the Discussion Posting Guide for information about writing your discussion posts. It is recommended that you write your post in a document first. Check your work and correct any spelling or grammatical errors. When you are ready to make your initial post, click “Reply.” Then copy/paste the text into the message field, and click “Post Reply.”
To respond to a peer, click “Reply” beneath her or his post and continue as with an initial post.
Evaluation
This discussion will be graded using the discussion board rubric. Please review this rubric, located on the Rubrics page within the Start Here module of the course, prior to beginning your work to ensure your participation meets the criteria in place for this discussion. All discussions combined are worth 40% of your final course grade.
 
 
 
NUR533 ETHICS AND POPULATION HEALTH
M4D1: Population Based Health Disparities
No unread replies. No replies.
The purpose of this discussion is to provide you with an opportunity to receive feedback on the construction of your annotated bibliography and further develop your approach to this assignment. The focus of your annotated bibliography is on a specific population based health disparity that you have chosen to investigate. The annotated bibliography assignment asks you to conduct a literature search and identify 8 to 10 articles that address the disparity and write an annotation of each article.
For this discussion, choose one of the articles you identified for your annotated bibliography and include the following in your initial post:
Identify the disparity and the specific population.
Provide a brief synopsis of the article (in your own words, not a restatement of the abstract); include a link (URL) to the article.
Describe the usefulness of the article as a source of information about the disparity.
Does information provided in the article facilitate efforts to eliminate the health disparity? If it cannot be used to eliminate the health disparity, explain why
Describe ethical concerns you might have after reading this article.
Describe how information from the article enhanced your awareness of the disparity.
For your initial response, please be sure to address all of the above statements and/ or questions.
 
Use these EC Library and OWL resources for research assistance and to properly cite your work:
Master’s in Nursing Research Guide (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Plagiarism & Copyright (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Excelsior Library Writing Help (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
APA Citation Help (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Excelsior College Online Writing Lab (OWL) (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
How You Are Evaluated
You are expected to participate in academic conversations with peers and faculty to generate scholarly dialogue. Expectations for participation in the course discussions are described under the Discussion Rubric: Exploration, Spirit of Inquiry, and Engagement (interactions) when relating your experiences, opinions, viewpoints, and ideas supported by evidence.
Consult the Discussion Posting Guide for information about writing your discussion posts. It is recommended that you write your post in a document first. Check your work and correct any spelling or grammatical errors. When you are ready to make your initial post, click “Reply.” Then copy/paste the text into the message field, and click “Post Reply.”
To respond to a peer, click “Reply” beneath her or his post and continue as with an initial post.
Evaluation
This discussion will be graded using the discussion board rubric. Please review this rubric, located on the Rubrics page within the Start Here module of the course, prior to beginning your work to ensure your participation meets the criteria in place for this discussion. All discussions combined are worth 40% of your final course grade.
 
 
 
 
 
NUR533 ETHICS AND POPULATION HEALTH
M5D1: Taking Action: The Social and Material Determinants of Health and Everyday Encounters
No unread replies. No replies.
See the problem and doing something about it!The focus of this discussion are the opportunities for the master’s prepared nurse to identify within his or her practice, the social and material determinants of health that contribute to health disparities. In other words, tell us what you see and what you believe is the root cause of it!
This involves developing a heightened sense of awareness of these variables and in essence, bearing witness to them so that you are spurred on to take action in your work in social policy and in your role as an advocate. (These aspects of the role of the masters prepared nurses were discussed in Module 2.)
The assignment builds on the content of the module in that it asks you to apply what you learned within the context of your everyday experience of work. The essence of this is to ask you to see beyond the tasks of your daily work experiences and make explicit your understanding and recognition of the reality of the lives of the individuals you work with and how their health is the outcome of social and material determinants.
To prepare for your discussion, please complete all required reading and viewing, including the Module Notes, prior to continuing. You may also want to review the reading and viewing from Modules 2 and 4.
This discussion asks you to recognize and identify the population based adverse health outcomes that you’ve seen in your practice as a nurse and discuss how they are the outcome of specific social and material determinants of health and how they result in health disparities.
Please address the following:
Describe a population-based health problem that you’ve encountered in your practice as a nurse. Share detail about the problem:
Who are the individuals affected? (Describe the population.)
How significant is the problem?
Explain what you believe are the social and material determinants of health that contribute to these disparities. Base this explanation on your readings and include appropriate citations. For example, if the problem is non-adherence to medications and worsening illness, could it be that low health literacy is the determinant or perhaps the inability to pay for the medications?
Based on your experience, what social and material conditions need to change to lessen the negative impact of the determinants you are describing?
Identify a social or health policy that influences or shapes the social and material determinants that you’ve identified.
Describe the opportunities for the masters prepared nurse to engage in political activism on behalf of positive change.
For your initial response, please be sure to address all of the above statements and/ or questions.
Use these EC Library and OWL resources for research assistance and to properly cite your work:
Master’s in Nursing Research Guide (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Plagiarism & Copyright (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Excelsior Library Writing Help (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
APA Citation Help (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Excelsior College Online Writing Lab (OWL) (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
How You Are Evaluated
You are expected to participate in academic conversations with peers and faculty to generate scholarly dialogue. Expectations for participation in the course discussions are described under the Discussion Rubric: Exploration, Spirit of Inquiry, and Engagement (interactions) when relating your experiences, opinions, viewpoints, and ideas supported by evidence.
Consult the Discussion Posting Guide for information about writing your discussion posts. It is recommended that you write your post in a document first. Check your work and correct any spelling or grammatical errors. When you are ready to make your initial post, click “Reply.” Then copy/paste the text into the message field, and click “Post Reply.”
To respond to a peer, click “Reply” beneath her or his post and continue as with an initial post.
Evaluation
This discussion will be graded using the discussion board rubric. Please review this rubric, located on the Rubrics page within the Start Here module of the course, prior to beginning your work to ensure your participation meets the criteria in place for this discussion. All discussions combined are worth 40% of your final course grade.
 
 
NUR533 ETHICS AND POPULATION HEALTH
M6D1: Policy Alternatives for Achieving Health Equity
No unread replies. No replies.
The health of the population matters!The focus of this discussion is the possible policy alternatives or interventions that can be put in place in an effort to eliminate health disparities.
The assignment builds on the content of the module in that it asks you to identify a health disparity that is of interest to you and then access the evidence based literature (available through Excelsior College Library) to identify a possible policy alternative that would work toward achieving health equity.
 
The assignment builds on the content of the module in that it asks you to apply what you learned within the context of your everyday experience of work. The essence of this is to ask you to see beyond the tasks of your daily work experiences and make explicit your understanding and recognition of the reality of the lives of the individuals you work with and how their health is the outcome of social and material determinants.
The phrase policy alternative is used because as you’ve know from reading the module notes, there are multiple policy initiatives and opportunities that can be taken to eliminate a health disparity. Each policy alternative offers an opportunity to have an impact on a unique aspect of a health disparity. It is rare that any one policy alternative can address all aspects of a disparity.
To prepare for this discussion, please complete all required reading and viewing, including the Module Notes, prior to continuing. You may also want to review the reading and viewing from Modules 4 and 5 as well as any other readings referenced within the notes for Module 6.
This discussion asks you to identify a potential policy alternative or intervention in response to a specific health disparity which you will identify from the CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report: CDC Health Disparities and Inequalities Report — United States, 2013.
Please address the following:
Identify a disparity that is of interest to you.
Share with your peers what you have learned about the disparity, including population demographics, characteristics, etc.
Identify a peer reviewed evidenced-based article that describes a possible policy alternative or intervention that has the potential to work towards achieving health equity.
Explain why the disparity warrants intervention and how the policy alternative you’ve selected is appropriate.
Describe the policy alternative, the level of government at which the policy would be enacted, the institution and/or organizations that would be involved and the specific way in which the policy could work towards achieving health equity.
Explain the role of the master’s prepared nurse in promoting this policy alternative.
What are the opportunities for advocacy, lobbying particular special interest groups or stakeholders, working within professional organizations, etc.? Be as specific here as possible, especially when identifying interest groups and stakeholders.
For your initial response, please be sure to address all of the above statements and/ or questions.
Use these EC Library and OWL resources for research assistance and to properly cite your work:
Master’s in Nursing Research Guide (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Plagiarism & Copyright (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Excelsior Library Writing Help (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
APA Citation Help (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Excelsior College Online Writing Lab (OWL) (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
How You Are Evaluated
You are expected to participate in academic conversations with peers and faculty to generate scholarly dialogue. Expectations for participation in the course discussions are described under the Discussion Rubric: Exploration, Spirit of Inquiry, and Engagement (interactions) when relating your experiences, opinions, viewpoints, and ideas supported by evidence.
Consult the Discussion Posting Guide for information about writing your discussion posts. It is recommended that you write your post in a document first. Check your work and correct any spelling or grammatical errors. When you are ready to make your initial post, click “Reply.” Then copy/paste the text into the message field, and click “Post Reply.”
To respond to a peer, click “Reply” beneath her or his post and continue as with an initial post.
Evaluation
This discussion will be graded using the discussion board rubric. Please review this rubric, located on the Rubrics page within the Start Here module of the course, prior to beginning your work to ensure your participation meets the criteria in place for this discussion. All discussions combined are worth 40% of your final course grade.
 
 
NUR533 ETHICS AND POPULATION HEALTH
M7D1: Applying “Hot Spotting” to Impact Health Costs and Outcomes and the Role of the Masters Prepared Nurse as a Member of the Interdisciplinary Team
No unread replies. No replies.
FinanceThe article The Hot Spotters  (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.by Atul Gwande, describes a unique and innovative approach to understanding the high cost of care across a vulnerable population that lives with health disparities. The definition of Hot Spotting is,
Healthcare hot spotting is a data-driven process for the timely identification of extreme patterns in a defined region of the healthcare system. It is used to guide targeted intervention and follow-up to better address patient needs, improve care quality, and reduce cost. Most often the data in question are hospital reimbursement claims that are continuously produced, standardized by an operational imperative, and bring together high-stakes diagnostic, temporal, financial, spatial, and demographic data in a single set of records. Through hot spotting, claims data can help reveal both a community’s healthcare problems and their solutions (Gwande, n.d. ).
Hotspotting can be used in many regions of the health care system; this type of data analysis can be used to collect evidence and drive change in health care in many settings, across many populations. Of interest is the potential for the master’s prepared nurse to participate as member of a “Hot Spotting” team, in a particular health care setting and the type of knowledge and skill this nurse will need to be effective in this role.
 
To prepare for this discussion, please complete all required reading and viewing, including the Module Notes, prior to continuing. Reading the article on Hotspotting as well as viewing the website, is necessary. You may also want to review the reading and viewing from Modules 4 and 5 and 6, as well as any other readings referenced within the notes for Module 7.
You are a master’s prepared nurse working in a community based health clinic in an inner city (part of a larger health system) with a population of older adults who experience multiple health disparities, including poverty. The health system wants to enhance the care delivered to this population, achieve better care outcomes, and lower costs. You are directed to work as part of an interdisciplinary team to do this. The team consists of physicians, social workers, MSNs, RNs, community advocates and policy makers. You’ve been directed to take a “Hotspotting” approach to accomplish the desired outcomes.
Include the following information in your post:
Describe your role as a master’s prepared nurse in this interdisciplinary team./span>
What knowledge and skills will you bring to the team? (Hint: think about leadership, communication, and clinical skills.)
Why it is important to have a master’s prepared nurse on the team?
Why is an interdisciplinary approach to this issue necessary?
As a member of this interdisciplinary team, describe the data you need to collect in order to understand and address the problem.
How would you go about collecting the data to formulate an intervention? Note: Think about health care costs, finance, reimbursement, care utilization, etc. The resources on Hotspotting will be useful here.
Identify an important and pertinent policy issue that you believe would need to be addressed to effectively achieve the desired outcomes. (For example, if the population were children with diabetes the policy issue could be funding for health school lunches.) Explain how this policy issue relates to the problem.
For your initial response, please be sure to address all of the above statements and/ or questions.
Use these EC Library and OWL resources for research assistance and to properly cite your work:
Master’s in Nursing Research Guide (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Plagiarism & Copyright (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Excelsior Library Writing Help (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
APA Citation Help (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Excelsior College Online Writing Lab (OWL) (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
How You Are Evaluated
You are expected to participate in academic conversations with peers and faculty to generate scholarly dialogue. Expectations for participation in the course discussions are described under the Discussion Rubric: Exploration, Spirit of Inquiry, and Engagement (interactions) when relating your experiences, opinions, viewpoints, and ideas supported by evidence.
Consult the Discussion Posting Guide for information about writing your discussion posts. It is recommended that you write your post in a document first. Check your work and correct any spelling or grammatical errors. When you are ready to make your initial post, click “Reply.” Then copy/paste the text into the message field, and click “Post Reply.”
To respond to a peer, click “Reply” beneath her or his post and continue as with an initial post.
Evaluation
This discussion will be graded using the discussion board rubric. Please review this rubric, located on the Rubrics page within the Start Here module of the course, prior to beginning your work to ensure your participation meets the criteria in place for this discussion. All discussions combined are worth 40% of your final course grade.
Reference:
Gawande, A. (2011, January 24). The hot spotters (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. The New Yorker, 86, 41. Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers. (n.d.). Introduction: What is hotspotting? Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers. Retrieved from http://healthcarehotspotting.com/wp/introduction/
 
 
NUR533 ETHICS AND POPULATION HEALTH
M8D1: Reflection
No unread replies. No replies.
Matterhorn mirrored in RiffelseCritical reflection is a process used to make meaning of an experience. It is a time when you consider what you had accomplished, read, watched or shared with others. Critical reflection will help you to better understand why you react to or just watch what is happening around you. Critical self-reflection occurs with the assistance of others, who validate what you have learned or become as a result of your experiences.
To prepare for your discussion, review your readings and work for Modules 1 – 8.
Hotspotting can be used in many regions of the health care system; this type of data analysis can be used to collect evidence and drive change in health care in many settings, across many populations. Of interest is the potential for the master’s prepared nurse to participate as member of a “Hot Spotting” team, in a particular health care setting and the type of knowledge and skill this nurse will need to be effective in this role.
Consider the following statements are you review what you have accomplished in this course.
Critically reflect on what you have learned in this course related to the course outcomes.
Discuss how you will incorporate knowledge you gained from this course, into your practice and how it might influence your future roles and choices for your career.
Discuss how this knowledge will empower you as a nurse leader and policy advocate.
For your initial response, please be sure to address all of the above statements and/ or questions.
Use these EC Library and OWL resources for research assistance and to properly cite your work:
Master’s in Nursing Research Guide (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Plagiarism & Copyright (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Excelsior Library Writing Help (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
APA Citation Help (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Excelsior College Online Writing Lab (OWL) (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
How You Are Evaluated
You are expected to participate in academic conversations with peers and faculty to generate scholarly dialogue. Expectations for participation in the course discussions are described under the Discussion Rubric: Exploration, Spirit of Inquiry, and Engagement (interactions) when relating your experiences, opinions, viewpoints, and ideas supported by evidence.
Consult the Discussion Posting Guide for information about writing your discussion posts. It is recommended that you write your post in a document first. Check your work and correct any spelling or grammatical errors. When you are ready to make your initial post, click “Reply.” Then copy/paste the text into the message field, and click “Post Reply.”
To respond to a peer, click “Reply” beneath her or his post and continue as with an initial post.
Evaluation
This discussion will be graded using the discussion board rubric. Please review this rubric, located on the Rubrics page within the Start Here module of the course, prior to beginning your work to ensure your participation meets the criteria in place for this discussion. All discussions combined are worth 40% of your final course grade.