Assessment of Ethical and Policy Issues that Affect the Coordination of Care in Nursing Homes

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Ethical and Policy factors

Introduction

The elderly in nursing homes are among those who require the highest level of care coordination. However, various ethical and policy issues have been reported to be the primary factor affecting effective care coordination in nursing homes (Townsend et al. 2017). Even though most of the nursing care staff have reported low care coordination, minimal research has been undertaken to determine the extent at which ethical and policy issues affect care coordination in nursing homes (Luther & Hart, 2014). The quality of care in the United States nursing homes has been a recurrent issue in the public domain. It has been an issue for the past thirty years (Townsend et al. 2017). Various regulations such as the federal certification are in place, but still, the problems of poor quality exist. The patients in nursing homes again experience a high level of patient abuse (Luther & Hart, 2014). Therefore, it is clear that ethical and policy factors are among the primary reasons why care coordination in nursing homes in the United States is still a big problem.

Governmental policies related to the health and safety

The quality of patient care for the elderly in nursing homes should not have to be a point of debate, but they require the utmost level of medical care. With the adoption and existence of the federal government controlling activities in the nursing homes and implementing the social security act policy, the level of care coordination provided has drastically reduced (Bower, 2016). The social security act and the old age assistance facilitated the existence of more nursing homes with minimal support from the government. Currently, the Medicare policy has helped in improve the quality of care (American Nurses Association, 2015). The new regulations and policies have meaningfully squeezed on the quality of care in the elderly. Research indicates that nurses who work in nursing homes are poorly paid, offering minimal motivation for attending to elderly persons (American Nurses Association, 2015). Most of the nursing homes are privately owned, stimulating no growth of public nurses who need to work in nursing homes. Nevertheless, currently, the government has adopted the Medicare policy intending to improve the quality of care (Bower, 2016). The Medicare policy provides financial support to nursing homes.

Effect of governmental policies on the coordination of care in nursing homes

The government policies significantly impact the level of care in the nursing homes. The newest Medicare policies consider the practitioners as they are the people who take care of elderly persons (Luther & Hart, 2014). Through this policy, the practitioners’ compensation adopts the bundle payment method that allows the health care practitioners to coordinate care across the nursing homes (Magelssen et al. 2018). Payment of health care practitioners in nursing homes is the main factor that has been considered to reduce or increase the quality of health in nursing homes (Luther & Hart, 2014). The Medicare policy program, which is the current government policy that is in use in the nursing homes, have allowed the adoption of bundled payment method thus motivating the caregivers (Magelssen et al. 2018). Since the adoption and implementation of this policy, the quality of care coordination in nursing homes have greatly improved.

National, state, and local policy provisions that raise ethical questions for care coordination

Ethically, the nurses are expected to execute their job professionally. The affordable care policy is a policy used at the national, state, and local level. Therefore, it is applicable in all health care sectors, including nursing homes (Luther & Hart, 2014). However, several studies have indicated that this policy raises various ethical questions relating to care coordination. Affordable health care increases the amount of persons in older people care homes, reducing the quality of services as this policy does not increase the number of nurses (Luther & Hart, 2014). Increasing the number of older people seeking medical attention in nursing homes and not increasing the number of nurses causes more harm than good (Bower, 2016). The affordable healthcare policy leads to poor diagnosis and long treatment period of significant diseases that if taken, better action would be treated easily. Research indicates that a nursing home in Texas has recorded a 50% increase in the number of older people treated in the nursing home due to this affordable health care policy (Bower, 2016).

Impact of the code of ethics for healthcare providers on the coordination and care

The moral values for healthcare practitioners is one of the paradigms that have facilitated the development and existence of quality healthcare in nursing homes (American Nurses Association, 2015). During the nursing training, the healthcare providers are well trained on the importance of adhering to the code of ethics of nurses. It is not exceptional to nurses working in nursing homes as they are required to exhibit a high level of code ethics. Health services are greatly affected by the disparities in the distribution of money, power, and resources both at a national and local level. In the healthy people 2020, the document has come up with various ways that it will help in eliminating these disparities that significantly affect the healthcare system (American Nurses Association, 2015). The framework will work substantially to reduce the challenges that are currently experienced in the care system. With the positive impact of the code of ethics for nurses, the federal government should come up with more ways of implementing them to advance the attention coordination in the healthcare homes (Magelssen et al. 2018).

Critical ethical and policy issues implicating the coordination of care

Moral values are vital for any healthcare provider in the process of serving the patients. Ethical values and policy issues play a crucial role in coordination care in nursing homes (American Nurses Association, 2015). Some of these ethical issues include involving a high level of professionalism when dealing with patient and enhancing human dignity. The primarily used policy is the affordable care which ensures equal provision of services to all patients, including people in the marginalized areas (Magelssen et al. 2018). As much as the code of ethics for nurses and policies are significantly used, still, some challenges hinder smooth correlation of these two factors (Townsend et al. 2017). The primary factor hinders the smooth implementation is the high level of ignorance among the implementation team, who are supposed to focus on progress (Luther & Hart, 2014). Therefore, future research on the use of ethics and policy in coordination care in nursing homes need to advocate more on creating awareness.

Conclusion

Nursing homes provide areas where older people can attain healthcare services more conveniently. Ethical and policy factors play a vital role in care coordination, especially in nursing homes. Based on their age, they require a high level of careful attention as compared to young people. Therefore, the federal government has come up with various policies and ethical considerations to make this a reality and deliver more quality services.

References

American Nurses Association. (2015). Code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements. Nursesbooks Org. ISBN 1558101764
Bower, K. A. (2016). Nursing leadership and care coordination: creating excellence in coordinating care across the continuum. Nursing administration quarterly, 40(2), 98-102. https://journals.lww.com/naqjournal/Abstract/2016/04000/Nursing_Leadership_and_Care_Coordination__Creating.4.aspx
Luther, B., & Hart, S. (2014). What does the Affordable Care Act mean for nursing?. Orthopaedic Nursing, 33(6), 305-309. https://journals.lww.com/orthopaedicnursing/Abstract/2014/11000/What_Does_the_Affordable_Care_Act_Mean_for.3.aspx
Magelssen, M., Gjerberg, E., Lillemoen, L., Førde, R., & Pedersen, R. (2018). Ethics support in community care makes a difference for practice. Nursing Ethics, 25(2), 165-173. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0969733016667774
Townsend, C. S., McNulty, M., & Grillo-Peck, A. (2017). Implementing huddles improves care coordination in an academic health centre. Professional case management, 22(1), 29-35. https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/wk/ncm/2017/00000022/00000001/art00008

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