Health Care Economics and policy - Health Policy Analysis

Health Care Economics and Policy:
Health Policy Analysis
(Student`s Name)
(Course Code/Number)
(Name of Professor)
(Date of Submission)
Health Care Economics and Policy:
Health Policy Analysis
Introduction
Healthcare and nursing have changed greatly from its earlier days of intuition and superstition on evil spirits, humors or fluids and others, up to today`s scientific and evidence-based practice CITATION Bar081 \l 1033 (Kozier, Erb, Berman, Snyder, Lake, & Harvey, 2008). Indeed, modern healthcare is now governed by laws and standards that highlight more than anything else the significance of empirical and scientific evidences to every intervention and decision CITATION BTB04 \l 1033 (Basavanthappa, 2004). Even the different laws that govern the said dynamics of modern healthcare are subjected to research and continuous revisions and changes. In fact, although the world may have come a long way from the less-scientific nature of the intuitive periods of nursing, modern healthcare may still have a long way to go. This is especially in view of the expanding role of nurses, and the observable role of administration and politics in the success of healthcare. Certainly, political moves by leaders have led both to solutions and problems on nursing, especially in terms of staffing and the nurse-patient ratio. Therefore, this calls for the need for more intensive and continuous analysis of policies on healthcare and nursing.
In relation, this paper will then involve a policy analysis, specifically an analysis of state and federal policies involving nursing staffing. The said analysis will be guided by a policy question, as well as the student`s position on the said question. For purposes of clarity and greater comprehensiveness, the policy question and the student`s position will be presented in the next subsection of this paper. After the presentation of the policy question, the relevance of the question to federal or state health policies will be discussed, followed by the economic analysis of the student`s position, and the significance of the policy question and the policies themselves.
Policy Question and Student`s Position
The policy question that would serve as the focal point of this essay is:
Based on what president Obama said that nurses are the "front lines of the healthcare system", is the shortage of hospital Registered Nurses (RNs) better or worse?
Better.
I strongly believe that in light of the president`s declaration, the policies that have been instigated with it have led to a better status and improvements in the shortage problem of nurses among hospitals.
Nursing shortage has always been a major concern within the healthcare industry, not only in hospitals but also in numerous settings of health care CITATION Ame07 \l 1033 (American Nurses Association (ANA), 2007). Various reasons have provided a strong support to the concept of a nurse-patient ratio that allows for the most optimal productivity and the most minimum burnout. Indeed, nursing shortages have been pointed out as a major reason for numerous adverse events that occur in different healthcare settings, especially hospitals CITATION Kov00 \l 1033 (Kovner, Jones, & Gergen, 2000). In fact, most injuries and falls that...