Respond to this post with a positive response :

Ask a probing question, substantiated with additional background information, evidence or research.

Share an insight from having read your colleagues’ postings, synthesizing the information to provide new perspectives.

Offer and support an alternative perspective using readings from the classroom or from your own research in the Walden Library.

Validate an idea with your own experience and additional research.

Make a suggestion based on additional evidence drawn from readings or after synthesizing multiple postings.

Expand on your colleagues’ postings by providing additional insights or contrasting perspectives based on readings and evidence.

Use at least 3 references

                                                          Main Post

                               Needs of Military Veterans and Dependents

            Our nation’s assistance in helping military veterans and their families is lacking.  Two needs that need the most focus are healthcare needs, specifically mental health, and transitional support.  Many veterans end up homeless or lack health insurance once they enter the civilian world (Deyton, Hess, & Jackonis, 2008).  According to Deyton et al. (2008) two million veterans and 3.8 million of their dependents lack private health insurance.  Most hardworking veterans earn too much to qualify for Medicaid programs but make too little to afford insurance (Deyton et al., 2008).  As a Naval veteran myself, I experienced the intimidating act of leaving the military and starting a new life as a civilian in 2011.  During my exit from the military, I received an exit medical exam.  This exam included the physician doing a head to toe assessment and reviewing my medical record.  No focus was evident regarding my mental health.  I was told by the physician, “You are a healthy childbearing woman and have no need for assistance upon discharge.”  From there, I was on my own to transition into civilian care.  I am one of the fortunate ones who could find resources.  Many are not so lucky.  

Another need for veterans is transitional support.  Deyton et al. (2008) identify the lack of this support as another reason for homelessness and lack of health insurance access for veterans.  Before I discharged from the military, my superiors encouraged me to attend a Transition Assistance Program (TAP) class.  While participating in this class with about 50 others, I noticed only three other officers.  The rest were enlisted. In the military, officers have at least a bachelor’s degree.  The enlisted may also have some college background, but most are high school educated and trained on the job.  The three officers and I left the class with a stack of papers and extreme confusion.  While discussing our fears, we rationalized how fortunate we were that our education gave us opportunities on our exit.  Many others in the class were realizing challenges of employment as they described jobs in which they applied and were turned down.  Great fear was evident among the group.    

Advocating Efforts

The development of policy is necessary to getting veterans healthcare access and supporting their transitional process.  Deyton et al. (2008) point out resources available are fragmented, and integration is essential.  Policy at the Agency Secretary level requiring coordination of these resources can make this integration possible (Deyton et al., 2008).  As a Navy veteran nurse, I’m responsible for advocating for policy to make the transition smooth for military veterans and their families.

Advocating skills necessary for a transitioning military veteran policy include grassroots lobbying.  Nurses should focus on developing relationships with their local legislatures and educate those legislatures on nursing interests (Milstead, 2013).  Milstead (2013) identifies nurse constituents as valuable resources in grassroots efforts and suggests nurses join specialty nurse organizations to develop the skills necessary.  Nurses who anticipate lobbying for policy should educate themselves on the lawmaking process and ethics laws to be most effective in their efforts (Milstead, 2013).  Development in advocacy skills to participate in grassroots efforts are necessary to support policy in helping military veterans and their families.

Nurses are responsible for advocating for the health of the populations (Laureate Education, 2012).  In nurses’ daily lives, they develop relationships with clients and colleagues giving them the opportunity to show compassion and empower their clients and coworkers (Begley, 2010). With rapport built, nurses have the responsibility of spreading education about healthcare issues and holding their colleagues accountable (Begley, 2010).  Dr. Peter Beilenson explained that, in the eyes of legislatures, nurses are constituents who care for their patients without a business agenda (Laureate Education, 2012).  Nurses should realize their value and become active in advocacy efforts to help veterans and their families and other suffering populations.  

References

Begley, A. (2010). On being a good nurse: Reflections on the past and preparing for the future. International Journal of Nursing Practice, 16(6), 525-532.

Deyton, L., Hess, W. J., & Jackonis, M. J. (2008, Winter). War, its aftermath, and U.S. health policy: Toward a comprehensive health program for America’s military personnel, veterans, and their families. Journal of Law, Medicine, & Ethics, 36(4), 677–689.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2012g). The needle exchange program. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Milstead, J. A. (2019). Health policy and politics: A nurse’s guide (6th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

In the Week 1 discussion forum you had an opportunity to present a potential problem and an innovative solution specific to your role specialization. In addition, you have reviewed the literature to identify qualitative and quantitative research articles and submitted annotated bibliographies to provide evidence supporting the problem.

Considering the feedback provided to you by the faculty member it is now time to prepare your problem statement, research purpose, and research question.

First share your refined problem and proposed solution (given your review of literature this may have changed depending on the evidence you were able to provide). Next, follow the steps to help define your research question.

1. Craft the problem statement and research purpose.
2. Design your research question aimed at solving (a part of) the problem and include the following components which will focus the literature review.

PICOT Question:

Patient, Population or Problem

1. What are the characteristics of the patient or population?
2. What is the condition or disease you are interested in?

Intervention or exposure

1. What do you want to do with this patient (e.g. treat, diagnose, observe)?

Comparison

1. What is the alternative to the intervention (e.g. placebo, different drug, surgery)?

Outcome

1. What are the relevant outcomes (e.g. morbidity, death, complications)?
2. Ensure that the research question is answerable, feasible and clinically relevant

The next step in Submissions Area will be to develop a research hypothesis from the research question.

Professional Development Exercises :

• Describe the kinds of evidence that a plaintiff can present in order to establish a negligent act. What defenses can a defendant present in order to refute a plaintiff’s evidence?
• How do statutes of limitations protect professional nurse-defendants? Do they also protect the injured parties?
• What can staff nurses do to protect patients from quasi-intentional torts? Does this differ from the nurse manager’s role in preventing quasi-intentional torts?
• Read the case study presented at the end of Chapter 5 (Guido, p. 67). 
  • Does the failure to document an admission nursing assessment equate with the fact that this nurse did no admission nursing assessment?
  • What might the patient’s attorney further allege in his supplemental report?
  • How would one decide the standard of care for this patient?
  • How would you decide the outcome of this case?
• Read the case study presented at the end of Chapter 6 (Guido, p. 96) 
  • Was there negligence in this case and who should be liable for the negligence?
  • What type of damages should be assessed and how would you begin to determine the amount to assess?
  • Given that there were multiple individuals involved in this case as well as the institution that employed these individuals, how would you determine the percentage of liability for the multiple defendants, assuming that more than one defendant should be assessed with damages?
  • How would you decide this case?
• Read the case study presented at the end of Chapter 7(Guido, p. 115) 
  • Were there damages that should be paid to this patient for negligence?
  • Who should be the individuals responsible for these damages? For example, is the surgeon the individual most liable for the damages owed to the patient?
  • Should the Bovie manufacturer also have been included in the lawsuit?
  • Are there any defenses that the defendants could cite that would mitigate their liability to this patient?
  • How should the court decide the damage awards in this instance?

Please combine all of these responses into a single Microsoft Word document for submission
Please submit only complete assignments (not partial or “draft” assignments).
Submit only the assignments corresponding to the module in this section.
You are required 750  word count for each of the responses, but please be thorough in your responses so that you adequately address all aspects of each question.

Research Exercise

Due Week 1 and worth 50 points

Out of 200 applicants, you have been selected to work as the manager in the research department for a special task force with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Review the CDC website at https://www.cdc.gov. Your first assignment on this special task force is to focus on Opioid Overdose. The CDC reports that from 1999 to 2015, more than 183,000 people died in the U.S. from overdose related to prescription opioids.

The CDC has been researching the impact of opioid overdose to protect the public’s health and prevent opioid overdose deaths using surveillance and research. You will focus on two primary areas: 1) opioid prescribing guidelines for physicians, and 2) ways hospitals can create prescription drug monitoring as a part of their Quality Management Department (seehttps://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/index.html).

Locate a peer-reviewed journal article related to quality in healthcare.  

1. Analyze how this article can be used in the Quality Management (QM) Department.
2. Determine how your article can be used by hospitals to monitor prescription drug programs.
3. Write a 150-word summary of your article and determine how it can be used in the QM. The summary should follow the SESC formula: State, Explain, Support and Conclude.
4. Utilizing SWS format, write a reference at the bottom of your summary. The citation must follow SWS format. Note:Wikipedia and similar websites do not qualify as quality resources.
5. This course requires use of new Student Writing Standards (SWS). The format is different than other Strayer University courses. Please take a moment to review the SWS documentation for details.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Analyze the critical management issues, purpose, functions, and performance measures of different departments within healthcare organizations.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in health services organization management.
• Write clearly and concisely about health services organization management using proper writing mechanics.