Advocating for the Nursing Role in Program Design and Implementation

Advocating for the Nursing Role in Program Design and Implementation

The dynamicity of the global healthcare landscape has increasingly placed pressure on value creation and addition to the existing healthcare resources. Amid these changes, healthcare professionals are implored to redefine their operationalization models and strategies to help create and realize value in the care they give to their patients. By leveraging various healthcare resources and fostering open dialogue between themselves, nurses and other caregivers can be steadfast in realizing their mandate to their patients. This paper extrapolates nurse advocacy roles represented by a community healthcare program.

The Healthcare Program

Mental healthcare has elicited mixed responses across the global healthcare systems. While there is a consensus on the need to manage mental healthcare illnesses, strategies to address mental health illnesses have fallen short of correcting the social conception of these illnesses in some communities (Carbonell et al., 2020). These illnesses are still stigmatized in many global societies. The stigma surrounding these illnesses results in widespread ignorance about these conditions and conditions that sufferers do not to seek mental healthcare. This program aims to educate the community in a neighborhood in Akron on mental health illnesses. The projected cost of the program is 50,000 dollars. The projected outcomes include increased awareness of mental health illnesses among teenagers as demonstrated by verbalization of various mental health disorders, increased knowledge of the available community resources for mental health illnesses manifested by verbalization of at least three available resources, and increased awareness of the health impacts of these illnesses.

Target Population

The target population for this community healthcare program is the adolescent population. Teenagers are considered a risk group for various mental health illnesses. The physiological and psychosocial changes that characterize this group make them vulnerable to these illnesses (Jörns-Presentati et al., 2021). The growing prevalence of mental health illnesses such as depression, anxiety, and substance abuse disorders among this population group necessitates the need for heightened healthcare response. This is in an attempt to lower the risk of these illnesses.

Role of Nurses in the Design of the Healthcare Program

Nurses play a central role in healthcare. Their advocacy and leadership roles place them in a strategic position in the design and implementation of various healthcare programs (Iriarte‐Roteta et al., 2020). This healthcare program draws nurses and other healthcare professionals. Nurses will provide their input and insights into design decisions. In this regard, they will be expected to give their experiences and perspectives on aspects of patient experiences, identify apparent barriers to healthcare communications during the program, and give ideas on how to ensure sound utilization of healthcare resources. These roles border on their primary nursing roles and experience handling various healthcare resources and communicating with their patients, patient families, and other caregivers.

Role as an Advocate

Nurse advocates play a role in educating communities on aspects of their health and healthy living. In the context of mental healthcare and this program, they play a role in educating communities on various mental health illnesses, the need for mental healthcare, and the impacts of these illnesses on wellness. In the process, they will educate teenagers on why they are vulnerable to these illnesses and where to seek help. Nurse advocates have a role in program design. Their experience and expertise can help inform output strategies and methods, such as the use of posters, flyers, and verbal communication, as well as the best language and communication techniques to be employed during these communications. They also impact design by coordinating with other caregivers to see how best to make the program successful. As Samuriwo (2022) reports, collaborative paradigms diversify healthcare approaches and ensure vast expertise and knowledge are used in critical healthcare decisions. Nurses can help in this regard by collaborating with other caregivers and helping them realize the plan.

Role of Nurses in Implementation

Nurses are integral to healthcare delivery. In this program, they will form part of the team that delivers actual care to the target population. In this regard, they will be expected to utilize a mixed approach to ensure that teenagers are educated on aspects of mental health illnesses and mental healthcare. Psychiatric nurses, for instance, will educate teens on various mental health illnesses and the available community resources valuable for addressing mental health concerns. This role varies slightly with design. While design involves passing theoretical provisions on the program and is mainly a boardroom affair, implementation is hands-on and entails actual executions of the plan. For example, in the design, nurses will propose the communication technique to be used while they will communicate with the clients in implementation.

Members of the Healthcare Team Needed the Most

In the design and implementation of the program, members of the healthcare teams needed the most, including psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, physicians, pharmacists, and social workers. Psychiatrists will play a role in educating teens on various mental health illnesses. Psychiatric nurses will help them understand the nature of their illnesses and the need for mental health care. Pharmacists and physicians will educate them on somatic presentations and medications that may have similar presentations and how to distinguish them. Social workers will educate the teens on community resources valuable in addressing mental health presentations.

The culmination of this program will see a robust group of teens knowledgeable on aspects of their mental health. The provisions of this program will help them make better life choices that impact their health positively. It is a representation of nurses’ and other caregivers’ responsibility and mandates for life maintenance and preservation.

References

Carbonell, Á., Navarro‐Pérez, J., & Mestre, M. (2020). Challenges and barriers in mental healthcare systems and their impact on the family: A systematic integrative review. Health & Social Care in the Community, 28(5), 1366–1379. https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.12968

Iriarte‐Roteta, A., Lopez‐Dicastillo, O., Mujika, A., Ruiz‐Zaldibar, C., Hernantes, N., Bermejo‐Martins, E., & Pumar‐Méndez, M. J. (2020). Nurses’ role in Health Promotion and Prevention: A Critical Interpretive Synthesis. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 29(21–22), 3937–3949. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.15441

Jörns-Presentati, A., Napp, A.-K., Dessauvagie, A. S., Stein, D. J., Jonker, D., Breet, E., Charles, W., Swart, R. L., Lahti, M., Suliman, S., Jansen, R., van den Heuvel, L. L., Seedat, S., & Groen, G. (2021). The prevalence of mental health problems in sub-Saharan adolescents: A systematic review. PLOS ONE, 16(5). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0251689

Samuriwo, R. (2022). Interprofessional collaboration—time for a new theory of action? Frontiers in Medicine, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/

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ADVOCATING FOR THE NURSING ROLE IN PROGRAM DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION
As their names imply, the honeyguide bird and the honey badger both share an affinity for honey. Honeyguide birds specialize in finding beehives but struggle to access the honey within. Honey badgers are well-equipped to raid beehives but cannot always find them. However, these two honey-loving species have learned to collaborate on an effective means to meet their objectives. The honeyguide bird guides honey badgers to newly discovered hives. Once the honey badger has ransacked the hive, the honeyguide bird safely enters to enjoy the leftover honey.

Advocating for the Nursing Role in Program Design and Implementation

Much like honeyguide birds and honey badgers, nurses and health professionals from other specialty areas can—and should—collaborate to design effective programs. Nurses bring specialties to the table that make them natural partners to professionals with different specialties. When nurses take the requisite leadership to become involved throughout the healthcare system, these partnerships can better design and deliver highly effective programs that meet objectives.

In this Assignment, you will practice this type of leadership by advocating for a healthcare program. Equally as important, you will advocate for a collaborative role of the nurse in the design and implementation of this program. To do this, assume you are preparing to be interviewed by a professional organization/publication regarding your thoughts on the role of the nurse in the design and implementation of new healthcare programs.

RESOURCES

Be sure to review the Learning Resources before completing this activity.
Click the weekly resources link to access the resources.

WEEKLY RESOURCES

To Prepare:

Review the Resources and reflect on your thinking regarding the role of the nurse in the design and implementation of new healthcare programs.
Select a healthcare program within your practice and consider the design and implementation of this program.
Reflect on advocacy efforts and the role of the nurse in relation to healthcare program design and implementation.
The Assignment: (2–4 pages)

In a 2- to 4-page paper, create an interview transcript of your responses to the following interview questions:

Tell us about a healthcare program, within your practice. What are the costs and projected outcomes of this program?
Who is your target population?
What is the role of the nurse in providing input for the design of this healthcare program? Can you provide examples?
What is your role as an advocate for your target population for this healthcare program? Do you have input into design decisions? How else do you impact design?
What is the role of the nurse in healthcare program implementation? How does this role vary between design and implementation of healthcare programs? Can you provide examples?
Who are the members of a healthcare team that you believe are most needed to implement a program? Can you explain why?
BY DAY 7 OF WEEK 8
Submit your interview transcript.

SUBMISSION INFORMATION
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