Legislation Grid and Testimony/ Advocacy House Bill 164
Legislation Grid and Testimony/ Advocacy House Bill 164
Legislation Grid and Testimony/ Advocacy
| Health-related Bill Name | Restriction on school masking guidelines. |
| Bill Number | House Bill 164. |
| Description | House Bill No. 164 as initially proposed was in line with the House of Medicine’s Agenda. The bill sought to ensure that public and charter schools have the right to impose the wearing of face coverings in these institutions (Berlin, 2021). A newer comprise proposed by Rep. Harold V. Dutton Jr., however, seeks to give parents the option to disregard the earlier proposed school requirements. The new bill is supported by individuals opposed to the wearing of masks. The Texas Medical Association is, however, against the proposal with the organization’s Director of Public Affairs openly criticizing the new proposal |
| Federal or State? | State legislation. |
| Legislative Intent | The Bill majorly targets school going children. The original proposal was to ensure that schools and other learning institutions were given the right to impose face covering within the schools’ premises. As Berlin (2021) notes, the new compromise introduced seeks to give parents the ability to opt out of wearing of masks for children within schools. The Bill which was introduced on the eleventh of August this year is currently left pending in the committee stage. |
| Proponents/ Opponents | Proponents:The new bill is supported by individuals opposed to the wearing of masks; popularly referred to as anti-maskers. |
| Opponents:The Texas Medical Association is against the proposal with the organization’s Director of Public Affairs openly criticizing the new proposal | |
| Target Population | The Bill majorly targets school going children. |
| Status of the bill (Is it in hearings or committees?) | The Bill which was introduced on the eleventh of August this year is currently left pending in the committee stage. |
| General Notes/Comments
| As a nursing practitioner, one may have thought that he or she has no impact on healthcare through advocacy that impacts policies and legislations. This belief is, however, false. Nursing practitioners and other health care practitioners have a key role to play in policy formulation (Starkweather et al., 2018). By contributing towards the formulation of health policies, nurses play a major role in shaping the quality of healthcare that is provided currently and that will be provided in the future. As Turale and Kunaviktikul (2019) note, policies also greatly impact the allocation of resources towards healthcare. In this essay, I shall discuss a proposed bill looking at the stage that it currently is in among other things, and discussing its impact on the health sector. Legislation Grid and Testimony/ Advocacy House Bill 164 I also oppose the compromise that allows parents to opt their children out of mandatory face covering while at school. The increased transmission rates of the Delta variant of COVID-19 have led to an increased number of children who fall ill and also an increase in the number of children admitted due to coronavirus (Siegel et al., 2021). One of the recommendations of the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) is universal masking in schools among other key recommendations (Christie et al., 2021). Vaccination for students twelve years and older, teachers and school staff, improved ventilation and physical distancing coupled with the wearing of face masks has been proven to reducing transmission and infection rates. The pandemic has greatly impacted our health care system (Restauri et al., 2020). As a stakeholder in the health care system, I believe that individuals should take up responsibility in aiding in the fight against the disease. The compromise to give parents the ability to opt out therefore goes against this. Children going to school without face coverings are at risk of being exposed to the virus which they can later on transmit to their parents (Esposito et al., 2020). They also increase the risk of transmitting the virus to other students in the event they are positive and not wearing any face coverings. To convince those opposed to mandatory masking, I would organize forums, with the help of the relevant authorities, in open spaces to try and educate them about the importance of face coverings. As Batova (2021) notes, debunking any myths surrounding the virus while also highlighting the great blow the pandemic has dealt on our health care system would go a long way in convincing individuals to embrace the concept of mandatory face covering in schools. |
References. Legislation Grid and Testimony/ Advocacy House Bill 164 | Barile, J. P., Guerin, R. J., Fisher, K. A., Tian, L. H., Okun, A. H., Vanden Esschert, K. L., Jeffers, A., Gurbaxani, B. M., Thompson, W. W., & Prue, C. E. (2020). Theory-based behavioral predictors of self-reported use of face coverings in public settings during the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 55(1), 82–88. https://doi.org/10.1093/abm/kaaa109Batova, T. (2021). To Wear or Not to Wear: A Commentary on Mistrust in Public Comments to CDC Tweets about Mask-Wearing during COVID19. International Journal of Business Communication. https://doi.org/10.1177/23294884211008584 Berlin, J. (2021). Staying the Course: Medicine Enters an Unprecedented Session at the Texas Legislature. Texas medicine, 117(1), 20-27. Christie, A., Brooks, J. T., Hicks, L. A., Sauber-Schatz, E. K., Yoder, J. S., & Honein, M. A. (2021). Guidance for implementing covid-19 prevention strategies in the context of varying community transmission levels and vaccination coverage. MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 70(30), 1044–1047. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7030e2 Esposito, S., & Principi, N. (2020). To mask or not to Mask children to overcome COVID-19. European Journal of Pediatrics, 179(8), 1267–1270. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-020-03674-9 Restauri, N., & Sheridan, A. D. (2020). Burnout and posttraumatic stress disorder in THE Coronavirus DISEASE 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic: INTERSECTION, impact, and interventions. Journal of the American College of Radiology, 17(7), 921–926. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacr.2020.05.021 Siegel, D. A., Reses, H. E., Cool, A. J., Shapiro, C. N., Hsu, J., Boehmer, T. K., Cornwell, C. R., Gray, E. B., Henley, S. J., Lochner, K., Suthar, A. B., Lyons, B. C., Mattocks, L., Hartnett, K., Adjemian, J., van Santen, K. L., Sheppard, M., Soetebier, K. A., Logan, P., … Raizes, E. (2021). Trends in Covid-19 Cases, emergency Department visits, and hospital ADMISSIONS among children and ADOLESCENTS AGED 0–17 years — United states, August 2020–August 2021. MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 70(36), 1249–1254. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7036e1 Starkweather, A. R., Coleman, B., Barcelona de Mendoza, V., Hickey, K. T., Menzies, V., Fu, M. R., Williams, J. K., Prows, C., Wocial, L., O’Keefe, M., McCormick, K., Keenan, G., & Harper, E. (2018). Strengthen federal and local policies to advance precision health implementation and nurses’ impact on healthcare quality and safety. Nursing Outlook, 66(4), 401–406. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2018.06.001 Turale, S., & Kunaviktikul, W. (2019). The contribution of nurses to health policy and advocacy requires leaders to provide training and mentorship. International Nursing Review, 66(3), 302–304. https://doi.org/10.1111/inr.12550. |
NURS 6050 Assignment: Agenda Comparison Grid and Fact Sheet or Talking Points Brief Instructions
It may seem to you that healthcare has been a national topic of debate among political leaders for as long as you can remember.
Healthcare has been a policy item and a topic of debate not only in recent times but as far back as the administration of the second U.S. president, John Adams. In 1798, Adams signed legislation requiring that 20 cents per month of a sailor’s paycheck be set aside for covering their medical bills. This represented the first major piece of U.S. healthcare legislation, and the topic of healthcare has been woven into presidential agendas and political debate ever since.
As a healthcare professional, you may be called upon to provide expertise, guidance and/or opinions on healthcare matters as they are debated for inclusion into new policy. You may also be involved in planning new organizational policy and responses to changes in legislation. For all of these reasons you should be prepared to speak to national healthcare issues making the news.
In this Assignment, you will analyze recent presidential healthcare agendas. You also will prepare a fact sheet to communicate the importance of a healthcare issue and the impact on this issue of recent or proposed policy.