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Issues Affecting Health Care Delivery

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Health care today is becoming more complex with the aging population, multiple comorbidities, and rising health care costs. There are many issues that health care providers face while caring for patients on a daily basis. The two health care problems that will be discussed are hospital acquired infections and how it affects patient outcomes as well as antibiotic resistance related to overuse and misuse. This paper will discuss those two health care problems and how they affect health care delivery as well as costs, access to care, quality of care, and nursing qualities that influence evidence-based practice.
Problems That Affect Health Care Delivery and Health Care Policies
Hospital acquired infections The first health care problem to be discussed …show more content…
By decreasing the incidence of hospital acquired infections the ACNP can improve quality of care and save the hospital money. In the ICU setting many times central lines are necessary for invasive monitoring of hemodynamically unstable patients, administration of vasopressors, and administration of antibiotics. The ACNP can ensure when the line is inserted, sterile technique is maintained throughout the procedure and the use of central line bundles are now standard of care. The ACNP should also document the necessity of the central line and promptly remove the line when it is no longer indicated. Often the use of urinary catheters is essential in monitoring strict urinary output or in patients with urinary retention. Again removing the catheter when no longer indicated can reduce the incidence of catheter associated infections. In the hospital setting the ACNP can implement unit based guidelines that include dressing changes, hand washing, cleansing the skin with chlorhexidine, and cleansing before accessing ports (Peasah et al., 2013). In any efforts to decrease infection rates meticulous hand washing is …show more content…
NPs who are Master’s prepared are positioned as clinical leaders to drive EBP with bedside nurses through formal education (Gerrish et al., 2011). The ACNP can drive research projects, offer training through the use of in-services, and ensure EBP is carried out at the bedside. For example, the ACNP can develop a clinical practice guideline that would aide in better glucose control or recognizing sepsis on admission. All of these are characteristics of leadership. The ACNP recognizes EBP as a step from making clinical decisions based on customs and practice to basing decisions on scientific evidence, which improves quality of care (Gerrish et al., 2011).
Professionalism
There are not a simple one size fits all definition to professionalism in the nursing profession. Professionalism can be described as the competence, beliefs, morals, and demeanor shared with those engaging in the practice of medicine (Young, 2010). Professionalism influences evidence-based practice through the way care is perceived and delivered to the patient, thus affecting patient outcomes. Professionalism controls nursing practice through the NPs impression on clinical experiences and practice, education, and competencies learned throughout ones’ career (Bunkenborg, Samuelson, Akeson, & Poulsen, 2012).

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