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Nursing Home Ethics and Policy Factors in Care Coordination

Ethics in nursing practice is used to describe the interaction between the nurses and their patients. It is important in ensuring that the coordination and continuum of care in the healthcare organization is upheld. For most healthcare organizations, the government policies and provisions tend to greatly impact the care coordination for patients as well as the community from which they are from. The ethical standards and policies tend to regulate nursing practice. If there is a breach in these standards, the result may be devastating for the coordination of care. This presentation analyses how healthcare related government policies influence coordination of care. Also, the influence of ethics on the continuum and coordination of care for nurses will be analysed.

There are a series of policies that greatly impact the U.S healthcare (Bower, 2016). There are many governmental health programs which influence the general care coordination. Examples include the Medicare and Medicaid. Additionally, there are other programs that focus on the children and veteran populations such as the State Children’s Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP) and the Veterans Health Administrations (VHA). The federal and local government is responsible for following up on the financial allocations to heathcare organizations. They need to ensure that the finances are not misused.

The aim of government involvement is to ensure that the disease and disability burden is decreased significantly. Medicare has positively impacted coordination of care since it improves patient access to healthcare. Most patient covered by Medicare are critically ill and unable to work. Medicare improves coordination of care by doing away with the high costs of healthcare, as well as the unnecessary procedures and tests that also drive up costs. Medicaid, on the other hand, offers services to the individuals from poor backgrounds, who require access to healthcare to ensure that they are able to lead healthy and productive lives.

Balancing costs and access to quality healthcare services are often perceived as presenting an ethical dilemma (Bower, 2016). Most of the healthcare reforms made in the U.S have presented a series of significant ethical issues. For example, the patient protection and the Affordable Care Act is a policy by the federal government that has raised a series of ethical questions that relate to the coordination of care. The Act features a series of reforms that are meant to positively impact quality of care for the average citizen. However, it still has some factors that will negatively impact the coordination of care. For instance, the number of covered individuals will be limited, leaving out many immigrants who are often in need of health coverage. Additionally, it is expected to trigger higher levels of national debt that will eventually impact the funding of organizations and the resulting care coordination.

It still has some factors that will negatively impact the coordination of care. For instance, the number of covered individuals will be limited, leaving out many immigrants who are often in need of health coverage. Additionally, it is expected to trigger higher levels of national debt that will eventually impact the funding of organizations and the resulting care coordination (Connor et al., 2018).

The nursing code of ethics is meant to guide clinicians and nurses as they handle their roles. The moral standards are non-negotiable, and nurses should strive to ensure that they are not breached (Lamb et al., 2015). However, this creates room for many conflicts. The code of ethics are taken very seriously by these professionals and their leaders. However, the policy provisions can lead to positive and negative implications with regards to coordination of care .

There are many government policies that affect nursing practice. However, Medicare and Medicaid are the well known programs that establish regulations on patient care. Unfortunately, they only focus on the elderly and the poor in the society. Others who are currently not actively working are forgotten, such as those in the nursing homes. The government should recognize these people who are being cared for at the nursing homes. Allowances and funds should be properly allocated to ensure that there is no shortage of resources. This will help in dealing with the dilemma that nurses are faced with when offering their services. Also, the coordination and continuum of care will be upheld.