You should write a two-page paper double spaced APA format about the affect  COVID-19 has on mental health/ patients with mental health disorders.  

This is due Friday 10/2 at Midnight. 

What are your thoughts about the debate regarding whether health care is a right or a privilege? How has the changing health care environment impacted your practice?

        Do all the United States citizens have the right to healthcare services regardless of their position, or is it a privilege for those who deserve it? This has been the United States debate for over a century, whether healthcare is a right or a privilege. Healthcare as a privilege arises from the limited resources since it requires money to operate, and in this case, is treated like any other commodity in the market. This debate is facilitated by several factors, such as the role an individual believes that the U.S. government is playing in enforcing healthcare rights. Other factors, such as how people view rights and privileges and whether they believe healthcare to be something that every individual should have, play a part in this debate. Therefore, my thoughts on this debate are that healthcare is a right and not a privilege.

The United States has modified the current delivery system and provides healthcare for its citizens in recent years. For instance, in 2008, former President Obama stated and declared that healthcare in the U.S. should be accessible to everyone regardless of socio-economic status (Maruthappu, Ologunde, & Gunarajasingam, 2013). This meant that every citizen had the right to quality and affordable healthcare. Although the statistics do not show how healthcare is a right for every citizen considering the many numbers of uninsured people, the U.S. is taking a step further to making healthcare accessible. According to Maruthappu, Ologunde, & Gunarajasingam (2013), the number of those not covered in 2010 was over 50 million. Enacting and passing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) has substantially contributed to ensuring that healthcare is a right and not a privilege. Healthcare has been made accessible to many U.S. citizens, although not all of them. One of ACA’s objectives that have proved that healthcare is a right is its goal in improving availability, affordability, and quality of insurance coverage for all U.S. citizens through Health System Reform and Insurance Reform (Vincent & Reed, 2014).

In recent years, the healthcare environment has changed, which has impacted the practice as a nurse. For instance, in the nursing environment, drastic changes have occurred to enhance medical care efficiency. There are better hospitals, more training programs, more responsibility, and a focus on patient-centered care in the nursing field. Although I am not yet working as a nurse, these changes impact my dedication as a medical professional as I am eager to better the health of the patients. The changing environment that has contributed to more training programs impacted my clinical hours as it had enabled my skills and confidence to build. I am learning new skills and techniques that will be helpful in a clinical setting. Another change in healthcare is social media’s use in increasing engagement in the nursing field (Lucas & Ward, 2016). Through this, nurses can share information and ideas, which has facilitated better communication.

There are rights that the virtues of humanity entitle U.S. citizens or, rather, every human worldwide. Exercise of these rights makes life better and enjoyable with dignity. Thus, among all the rights the humans deserve, healthcare is the most basic, essential, and crucial one. Although the United States mostly has a health insurance system, the right to healthcare is recognized internationally and should strive to make it a fundamental human right for its citizens.

References

Lucas, A., & Ward, C. W. (2016). Using social media to increase engagement in nursing organizations. Nursing, 46(6), 47-49.

Maruthappu, M., Ologunde, R., & Gunarajasingam, A. (2013). Is health care a right? Health reforms in the USA and their impact upon the concept of care. Annals of Medicine and Surgery, 2(1), 15-17.

Vincent, D., & Reed, P. G. (2014). Affordable care act: Overview and implications for advancing nursing. Nursing Science Quarterly, 27(3), 254-259.

Reply 2

What are your thoughts about the debate regarding whether health care is a right or a privilege? How has the changing health care environment impacted your practice?

  The United States assurances its citizens education, police and postal services, military protection, and other services, either federal or state, however, health care coverage is not guaranteed (Bauchner, 2017). Because we are humans, we have rights independently from our culture, religion, sex, race, economic status, or nationality and, among those rights, healthcare should be the most vital (Gerish, 2018). Healthcare is not considered a right but a privilege for the ones who can manage to pay for it (O’Rourke, 2017).

   In my opinion, I believe that healthcare should be a right, but facts showed me that in United States is a privilege. I came from a South America country where, even though it is considered a developing country, healthcare is accessible to all its citizens. Lately, public hospitals are not the best, the buildings are deteriorating, and there is a lack of supplies, nevertheless, they offer free healthcare for the ones in need. Of course, if possible, people prefer to pay medical insurances or prepaid care for a better service. During my first years in United States I received medical insurance for my four children with 100% coverage although not for me. Later, when I started to have better salaries, they denied that service, but my employers offered me plans to cover my children with a fee in every paycheck. I felt that I was earning more money but at the same time having more expenses.

  “We have the least access and by far the highest costs in the world” (O’Rourke, 2017). That is true; I feel that in addition to having to rely in expensive medical insurances, the costs of medical services are luxurious, so yes, healthcare in US is a privilege. O’Rourke, 2017 makes a point with the statement that considering healthcare as a right does not mean that should be free, nor it should be by charity. In addition, not all services should be included, for example elective cosmetic surgery. Considering healthcare as a right is a way to provide accessible needed care without taking in consideration the ability to pay.

During the orientation at my current job, I learned about EMTALA, The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, which is a federal law that requires emergency departments to stabilize patients regardless their economic or insurance status and if hospitals do not comply with this law fines apply. More of these laws should be written to ensure that all citizen receive adequate treatment, not only in emergency situations. Nonetheless, the problem of considering healthcare as a right and not a privilege is being discuss year after year with only a few changes and little by little additions are made like EMTALA and affordable healthcare.

References

Bauchner, H. (2017). Health care in the United States: A right or a privilege. JAMA 317(1):29. https://doi:10.1001/jama.2016.19687

Gerish, M. (2018). Health care as a human right. Human Rights Magazine 43(3). https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/the-state-of-healthcare-in-the-united-states/health-care-as-a-human-right/ (Links to an external site.)

O’Rourke, T. W. (2017). Lost in the health care reform discussion: Health care as a right or privilege. American Journal of Health Education, 48(3), 138–141. http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=5&sid=dd15245d-62a1-4e89-9b6a-dca649770c48@sessionmgr4006

All replies must be constructive and use literature where possible.

Your assignment will be graded according to the grading rubric.

Communication Strategies & HIPPA

Hospitals have embraced the use of health technology and electronic gadgets to improve communications among different parties. Some of the electronic strategies preferred for communication with patients include emails through electronic health record platforms, video calls, and telephone communication, among others (Mccorry & Mason, 2020). Communications conducted with patients over electronic platforms have several advantages over a patient visit to the hospital. For instance, these electronic communication strategies are preferred due to their speed and ease of operation (Anastasius, 2016). Patients can communicate with providers at all times, regardless of geographical barriers.

Furthermore, electronic communications are less expensive than office visits (Anastasius, 2016). Importantly, the use of electronic platforms produces electronic documentation of the interaction. The selection of the strategy to apply is based on the target and the message being passed. 

 The hospital has implemented numerous measures to ensure that the privacy and confidentiality of patient data are protected at all times. These measures include the installation of a secure electronic health recording system (Koontz, 2017). A secure system helps to restrict access to applications and patient health information. This electronic platform requires unique login details that protect the system from access to unauthorized parties (Akhilesh & Möller, 2019).  Staff education on patient privacy and confidentiality is also conducted regularly in the hospital. During the training sessions, nurses and other care providers are encouraged to ensure they key in the correct patient data at all points of interaction. Risk assessments are also conducted frequently to ensure patient data is not compromised. These assessments are essential in identifying potential vulnerabilities in the hospital’s security system, gaps in staff education, and other issues of concern (Koontz, 2017). 

References

Akhilesh, K. B., & Möller, D. P. (2019). Smart technologies: Scope and applications. Springer Nature.

Anastasius, M. (2016). Design, development, and integration of reliable electronic healthcare platforms. IGI Global.

Koontz, L. (2017). Information privacy in the evolving healthcare environment. Taylor & Francis.

Mccorry, L. K., & Mason, J. (2020). Communication skills for the healthcare professional enhanced Edition. Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Reply 2

Electronic communication would include methods such as email, phones, electronic health records (EHR), and telemedicine. Home health has a unique approach to using electronic communication due to the clinical setting. These nurses are not working in a medical facility with information technology readily available. Home health is defined as the “delivery of intermittent health-related services in patients’ places of residence to promote self-care and independence rather than institutionalization” (Nelson, 2014, p.154). This means that electronic communication used in the homes should be accessible and individualized for the families receiving services. 

All patients I have worked with communicate with the organization through phone calls, texts, and emails. Nurses communicate with our organization in the same way with the addition of a mobile app. To maintain patient privacy and confidentiality organizations that work with patient information follows its HIPAA policy. Health information protected under HIPAA includes patient name, social security number, telephone number, email address, street address, and any other patient identifiers. This includes the transmission of such data throughout an organization and applies to anyone involved with the use of health-related data (Edemekong, Annamaraju & Haydel, 2020). Nurses working in my organization only receive information about the patients they are treating. We have no way of accessing the patient’s not on our schedule. The medication administration record (MAR) and plan of care (POC) are sent to the family’s home in paper form for the nurses to use. In some ways, this is a great way to maintain patient privacy due to the limited accessibility of information. However, there have been instances when my patient’s information was sent to the wrong address. In addition, when nurses turn in the paper forms, we place them in a drop box at the organization’s office. Our notes are also dropped off in the same box. Respecting HIPAA would rely on the person emptying the box to ensure all the papers with patient information is taken to the proper person. Doing things this way seems like errors would happen easily. Using more electronic communication in handling patient information would make the home health setting abide by our HIPAA policy more efficiently. 

Nelson, states that a trend within home health organizations is the introduction of point-of-care devices to facilitate communication and collaboration. These devices would make “patient records available in the home when care is being provided and capture clinicians’ documentation in real-time, thereby supporting care” (2014, p. 157). I know of other home health agencies that use iPads and work phones to make this possible. Nurses on shift are given these devices to access patient information while in the home, eliminating paper records. Devices are handed in at the end of the shift to guarantee that information is only accessed by appropriate individuals and when necessary.  

References 

Edemekong, P. F., Annamaraju, P., Haydel, M. J. (2020) Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). StatPearls. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK500019/ 

Nelson, R., & Staggers, N. (2014). Health Informatics: An Interprofessional Approach (2nd ed.). Mosby 

To prepare:

Review the information in the Practicum Project Plan Overview document as needed. The overview describes the elements that must be included in your plan.

Reflect on the development of your Practicum Project Plan thus far. Address any questions you have and/or identify areas in need of further consideration or improvement. How can you craft your proposal objectively yet persuasively?

Develop any outstanding components of your Practicum Project Plan. For instance, you may need to continue your review of the literature that justifies your project and create your project timeline.

Review the information on scholarly writing in this week’s Learning Resources; be sure to integrate these principles as you develop your Practicum Project Plan. 

Write a 4- to 6-page scholarly paper in which you formulate a detailed plan for the problem or issue you are examining at your practicum site. Your paper should include the following: