Compare and Contrast Select Healthcare Policies

Healthcare Policies

Preoperative care has been used over the years in healthcare centers as a prerequisite to carrying out surgery operations on patients. This article focuses on the role of preoperative care of children as a way of reducing their anxiety before surgery. The paper will relate the research problem to the SLO: Apply practice guidelines to improve practice and the care environment. This article will carry out a critical review of the literature by analyzing different scholarly articles. Also, the article will discuss various contributions and roles performed by nurses in healthcare. The paper will compare and contrast select healthcare policies. Besides, the research paper will examine the ethical issues and decisions faced in healthcare. It will also evaluate different global healthcare delivery systems. The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the impact of preoperative care as a measure of reducing anxiety in children.

Problem

Children who are about to undergo surgery usually suffer from anxiety due to the unfamiliarity with the operation process. Physicians often offer preoperative care to children by preparing them both physically and psychologically for the surgery process. Medical practitioners provide all the necessary age-relevant information to the children connected with the operation. The doctors also administer aesthetics to the children before the surgery process to prepare them physically by minimizing the intensity of the pain experienced in the surgery process. During the preoperative care, physicians try to create a good rapport with the children which is deemed to reduce their anxiety of the surgery process. The research problem in this paper is to illustrate whether explaining the surgery procedure to children as part of the preoperative care reduces their anxiety. This research question will be based on the SLO: Apply practice guidelines to improve practice and the care environment.

Review of the Literature

The article: Time to clarify the value of advanced practice nursing roles in health care by Lowe et. al (2012) advocates for the need to define the roles of registered nursing practitioners clearly. The proper definition of the roles of nursing professionals can enlighten them on their responsibility to provide holistic care to patients which include offering psychological care in addition to the physical care. The comprehensive care when administered to patients undergoing the preoperative care can enhance the outcomes of the process. The holistic care can also lead to reduced anxiety in the patients receiving healthcare services which is in line with the research problem. The nursing practice guidelines stipulate the need for nurses to act as per the roles assigned to them. This article is therefore in line with the learning outcome: Apply practice guidelines to improve practice and the care environment, as it is also advocating the need to define the nurses’ roles clearly.

Based on an article: Preoperative care of children: Strategies from a child life perspective by Panella (2016), the psychological preparation of a child before surgery through the provision of age-relevant information can aid in reducing anxiety in a child. The article has also illustrated preoperative care as a way of familiarizing the childs family members with the surgery process which aid in reducing their anxiety. This article is, therefore, relevant to the research problem as it indicates a positive correlation between preoperative care and the reduction of anxiety among children. The report emphasized the need to provide age-relevant information to children, which is line with the nursing practice guidelines. Therefore, the paper is relevant to the SLO: Apply practice guidelines to improve practice and the care environment.

Suhonel et. al (2012) emphasizes the impact of offering individualized care to patients in enhancing patient satisfaction. Personalized care can be incorporated in the administration of preoperative care to children. Through the individualized care, a child can physically identify with the physicians who will carry out the surgery process on him/ her which to some extent can aid in reducing the childs anxiety. The family members of the child can also be in a position to have an active interaction with the involved practitioners. Through the interaction, they can gather all the relevant information that they require which can aid in reducing anxiety. The article by Suhonel et. al (2012) is, therefore, pertinent to the research problem as it provides a way of enhancing preoperative care with the aim of reducing anxiety among children. The nurses practice guidelines advocate for the enhancement of patient satisfaction through the provision of patient-centered care. Therefore, this article relates to the SLO: Apply practice guidelines to improve practice and the care environment.

Contributions and Roles of Nurses in Healthcare

Nurses make significant contributions and perform crucial functions in healthcare facilities. Nurses offer consultation services of common conditions to patients. They also play a vital role of providing patients with preoperative care that aids in reducing the patients’ anxiety. Through the preoperative care, nurses create a good rapport with the patients which in turn enhances their satisfaction. Nurses also offer medical services to patients suffering from chronic illnesses, what assists in reducing their symptoms (Kemppainen, Tossavainen, & Turunen, 2012). Besides, nurses provide follow-up services to patients to educate them on self-management strategies. One of the major contributions made by nurses in health facilities is enhancing the provision of cost-effective health services. Nurses have also achieved in promoting the adherence of patients to healthcare procedures. Therefore, the roles carried out by nurses are a reflection of the SLO: Apply practice guidelines to improve practice and the care environment.

Healthcare Policies

There are various healthcare policies implemented with the aim of improving the quality and accessibility of health services. The major similarity between different healthcare policies is that they are all geared towards improving the health of community members. For instance, the affordable care act was implemented to cut down the costs of providing healthcare services by reducing the number of uninsurable individuals (NIH, 2016). This, in turn, improves the quality of health services offered. The high-deductible health plans also enhance the reduction of costs of providing health services. The dietary guidelines for Americans is an act implemented to improve the quality of diets taken to ensure maintained good health of Americans. This is in line with the student learning outcome.

Ethical Issues and Decisions Faced in Healthcare

Medical practitioners usually face different ethical issues, which calls for the need to have critical thinking skills that can be used in major decision-making processes. One of the ethical dilemmas faced in a healthcare setting is the conflict of interests between the patients and the healthcare service providers. For instance, the patient may deem a given procedure as necessary for his/ her care whereas the doctor involved may view the process as irrelevant. Other ethical issues faced in a healthcare setting include the involvement of subjects in research activities and the decisions relating to the provision of care to end of life care patients (Creighton University, 2015). Decision making is paramount in selecting the kind of preoperative care to patients. One may also require solving different ethical dilemmas such as a conflict of interest with the patients on the kind of preoperative care administered. Solving dilemmas is in line with the SLO: Apply practice guidelines to improve practice and the care environment.

Global Healthcare Delivery Systems

Global healthcare delivery system can be defined as a project developed to improve the provision of health services worldwide by bridging the gap of global health delivery that causes inconsistency in the delivery of healthcare services (Havard, 2016). The stakeholders involved in global health delivery promote the quality of healthcare services provided globally by educating the practitioners on ways of enhancing their practices. This system leads to increased accessibility of healthcare services globally and also an enhancement in the quality of the services offered (Havard, 2016). Global health delivery system can aid in gathering more information on the relationship between preoperative care provision and reduction of anxiety among the individuals involved. The global health delivery system is an illustration of the efforts made to promote the observance of practice guidelines which is in accord with the student learning outcome.

Program Level Student Learning Outcomes

The SLO: Apply practice guidelines to improve practice and the care environment, has been utilized in this research paper. This learning outcome focuses on the need of students to understand the various stipulated healthcare practices and learn how they can be applied in a healthcare setting to enhance the performance of practitioners. Based on the research problem, the practice guidelines can be used in the provision of preoperative care to improve this procedure.

Conclusion

This paper has illustrated preoperative care as an effective way of reducing anxiety among children before undergoing surgery. The provision of both psychological and physical preparation to children before undergoing surgery has been considered a practice guideline which aligns the paper with SLO, application of practice guidelines that create an excellent health care environment for the children. The paper has analyzed other topics related to both the research problem and the SLO used in this article. These themes include the analysis of the roles of nurses, the evaluation of certain healthcare policies, and the investigation of global delivery systems. Apparently, more research should be carried out to ascertain the impact of preoperative care on childrens anxiety.