MSNFP6026 Biopsychosocial Population Health Policy Sample 1
Biopsychosocial Population Health Policy Proposal
Healthcare professionals are vital individuals in promoting the health of communities. As identified in assessment one, healthcare professionals continuously assess vulnerable populations and address the disparities to promote their health. A robust assessment provides cues to action and helps develop evidence on the effectiveness of various interventions. It thus leads to the development of policies and interventions that help resolve population problems. This essay proposes a policy that will address the veterans’ opioid crisis identified and discussed in assessment one.
Proposed Policy and Practice Guidelines
The proposed policy is the Veterans’ Opioid Crisis Management Policy. The policy will entail various provisions to address the veterans’ opioid crisis from its causes. The policy will also address barriers and conflicting evidence revealed in assessment one. The various provisions include proper training of healthcare professionals on safe opioid analgesic prescription and healthcare technology (clinical decision support system) in identifying and addressing the risk for opioid addiction (Minengish et al., 2021).
The second provision is a national database that will collect and trace opioid analgesics users for accountability and accurate reporting. The third provision will entail developing a robust community program that will avail resources for veterans struggling with opioid addiction resources. The provision’s success depends primarily on the US Department of Veteran Affairs collaboration (Filteau et al., 2018). The three policy provisions will prevent the opioid crisis, promote health, and help rehabilitate veterans already affected by opioid addiction. Healthcare professionals have a role in embracing and implementing the policy for veterans’ health.
Justification of the Need for the Policy
Healthcare policies are developed to change health patterns and promote better health outcomes in healthy populations. Currently, various policies focus on the opioid crisis, such as promoting safe prescription and risk identification and community resources that trace and help veterans caught up in the opioid crisis.
The policies have had varying degrees of success, but the rising rates of opioid addiction and opioid overdose-related deaths show a need for more policy provisions (Filteau et al., 2021). The population continues to suffer due to interventions meant to improve their health. These new provisions aim to address shortfalls and strengthen the current policies to produce better health outcomes and relieve veterans of the burden of opioid addiction and deaths.
As identified in assessment one, the US Veterans Affairs Department has developed and embraced various tools, such as Stratification Tool for Opioid Risk Mitigation (STORM), to assess an individual’s risk for developing opioid addiction. However, Filteau et al. (2021) identify a lack of healthcare providers’ knowledge of safe prescription skills as a major barrier to implementing them.
Educating healthcare providers will increase safe prescriptions and enhance the success of other functional policies. There lacks a national program to manage opioid use problems. Most cases are recognized after they worsen or succumb to the opioid crisis, while many go unreported. Educating healthcare providers is thus the first step in preventing unsafe practices and proper risk identification.
The national database in the policy provision will increase the responsibility of involved stakeholders in reporting and following up on individuals to prevent the development of addiction. According to Chen et al. (2020), nationally controlled programs are better managed due to the pooling of resources, benchmarking, and equity in resources distribution. The program will also ensure individuals access management resources to promote better health when they develop opioid addiction.
Various resources and organizations aim to help Veterans, but a significant barrier to their success is the lack of support from the government. Thus, availing of these resources in a program in partnership with the US Department of Veteran Affairs will ensure enough government support, hence the interventions’ success (Filteau et al., 2020). The policy provisions do not replace the current policies but rather introduce different perspectives and strengthen the existing policies for better patient outcomes.
Interprofessional Approach Potential to Enhance Effectiveness and Efficiency
Healthcare professionals all carry vital additive roles in promoting the health of populations. Interprofessional collaboration, training, shared decision-making, and shared goals and values, are some of the vital best practices vital to the implementation of this policy. Shared goals, values, and decision-making all build on professional collaboration critical to the success of the interventions (Riskiyana et al., 2018).
Interprofessional training on collaborative practices with a focus on the current policy will help gain their buy-in, which will significantly enhance the success of the policy implementation (Riskiyana et al., 2018). Involving all professionals in the decision-making process will bring varied perspectives to the equation, ensuring a holistic approach to the veterans’ opioid crisis. The interventions developed will be high-quality and will address all shortfalls, hence a high probability of successful implementation. Thus, an interprofessional approach to the issue may potentially increase the effectiveness of the policy provisions.
Like other sectors, failure to involve professionals or leaders brings resistance even to viable and potentially effective ideas. Kumar et al. (2018) note that resistance from professionals delays programs due to halts, undedicated work, and poor productivity. The results include a waste of money and time, yet resources are scarce.
The multidisciplinary representation will play a vital role in increasing professional collaboration in change management (Kumar et al., 2018). These professionals will ensure they represent their members, increasing their buy-in and easing the burden of change resistance. The interprofessional team will help rule out ineffective policies or policies that negatively affect other aspects of care delivery. These important roles will help save time and other resources, and thus, the interprofessional approach can potentially increase the efficacy of the new policy and practice guidelines.
Conclusion
New policies are developed to strengthen or replace existing ineffective policies and address various shortfalls in delivering quality care. Veterans’ lives are at stake due to the increased risk for chronic severe pain and unsafe practices. Addressing the opioid crisis among the veterans will require policy changes that include robust healthcare providers’ education on safe analgesic prescription practices, programs that record and track individuals on opioid analgesics, risk identification and management, and active tracing and management of addicted veterans.
The new policy provisions and practice guidelines will adequately address the opioid crisis. Through the US department of veteran affairs, the government should support these policies to ensure they succeed. An interprofessional approach will potentially increase the effectiveness and efficacy of the policy and practice guidelines.
MSNFP6026 Biopsychosocial Population Health Policy References
- Chen, T. C., Clark, J., Riddles, M. K., Mohadjer, L. K., & Fakhouri, T. (2020). National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2015-2018: Sample Design and Estimation Procedures. Vital and health statistics. Series 2, Data Evaluation And Methods Research, (184), 1–35.
- Filteau, M. R., Green, B., & Jones, K. (2021). Barriers to Community Treatment for Opioid Use Disorders among Rural Veterans. Journal of Veterans Studies, 7(3). https://doi.org/10.1002/jac5.1171
- Kumar, A., Kent, F., Wallace, E. M., McLelland, G., Bentley, D., Koutsoukos, A., & Nestel, D. (2018). Interprofessional education and practice guide No. 9: Sustaining interprofessional simulation using change management principles. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 32(6), 771-778. https://doi.org/10.1080/13561820.2018.1511525
- Minegishi, T., Frakt, A. B., Garrido, M. M., Gellad, W. F., Hausmann, L. R., Lewis, E. T., Pizer, S. D., Trafton, J. A., & Oliva, E. M. (2019). Randomized program evaluation of the Veterans Health Administration Stratification Tool for Opioid Risk Mitigation (STORM): A research and clinical operations partnership to examine effectiveness. Substance Abuse, 40(1), 14-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/08897077.2018.1540376
- Riskiyana, R., Claramita, M., & Rahayu, G. R. (2018). Objectively measured interprofessional education outcome and factors that enhance program effectiveness: A systematic review. Nurse Education Today, 66, 73-78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2018.04.014
Biopsychosocial Population Health Policy Proposal Example 2
Healthcare professionals are on the frontline in proposing policies and interventions to promote health in vulnerable populations. Due to the exposure to trauma, especially from life-threatening experiences, youths and young adults aged 18-24 are among the most vulnerable populations affected by various mental health issues, mostly Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD is prevalent in young people since 1-82.5% of the youths have experienced a traumatic event, and up to 8.1% experience PTSD (Lewis et al., 2019).
Due to the likelihood of experiencing interpersonal violence following hormonal and brain changes, youths with PTSD are vulnerable to self-injury, thus a serious issue of concern. More so, as mentioned in the previous assessment, PTSD is a mental health issue that faces a shortage of healthcare professionals who are well-versed in trauma and trauma management. Policies and guidelines ensuring youths access the required mental health care should be developed. This essay proposes a policy that will address mental health promotion by targeting the population of teens and young adults aged 18-24.
The Proposed Policy and Guidelines
The proposed policy is the Teens’ and young adults’ mental health and wellness policy. The policy will have several provisions to address the youth mental health crisis, from accessibility and quality of mental health care. The first provision is availing mental health awareness clinics and making them accessible for youths in terms of cost-effectiveness and care quality.
The mental health departments in healthcare institutions will prioritize youths, thus encouraging them to seek help, therefore promoting positive outcomes. The second provision is providing affordable and accessible mental health services for youths. The third provision entails creating community programs where the youths can share their past traumatic experiences with trusted people, thus reducing mental health issues. The community programs will have counselors who are accessible 24/7.
Since the youths frequently use technology, online mental health campaigns will be launched, steered by the community programs to create awareness of PTSD, reduce intrapersonal and interpersonal stigma, and encourage the youths to seek mental health when they experience mental health symptoms. The guidelines necessary for improving outcomes of the quality of care for youths who have PTSD involve the use of recommended guidelines in treating youths and children with PTSD.
According to Watkins et al. (2018), the American Psychological Association recommended the use of prolonged exposure (PE), trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and cognitive processing therapy (CPT). These evidence-based psychotherapy interventions will improve the health outcomes of youths with PTSD. However, there might be a challenge in improving mental healthcare access for the youths due to the shortage of healthcare professionals trained to deal with PTSD. The issue can be addressed by training more healthcare professionals on mental health illnesses.
The need for the policy
Research shows that teens and young adults with PTSD are reluctant to seek mental health treatment. Just as the PTSD patients from other populations, youths fail to seek mental health treatment due to fear of stigmatization, disclosure, and isolation. According to Velasco et al. (2020), other barriers to seeking mental health treatment include negative beliefs about mental health services and professionals and mental health illiteracy.
Therefore, mental health care needs to be improved to encourage the youth population to seek mental health treatment. The proposed policy has provisions that will encourage more teens and young adults to seek mental health help by creating awareness of PTSD and ensuring they easily access mental health treatment. Even though psychoeducation mainly focuses on school systems, the community programs will help trace youths with PTSD, especially those outside the school system who have refused to seek help and encourage them to seek help.
Furthermore, the community program interventions and multimedia campaigns will present a platform where youths can share experiences and create awareness about PTSD, thus helping them to overcome the consequences of PTSD. However, a systematic review by Smith et al. (2019), in contradiction, reveals that the facilitators of help-seeking behavior would be in vain if the healthcare system does not foster a caring and empathetic workforce for mental health departments, especially when caring for teens and young adults. They assert that follow-ups and screening services should be included in the mental health continuum to promote care quality and help-seeking behaviors among youths with PTSD.
Interprofessional Approach Potential to Enhance Effectiveness and Efficiency
All healthcare professionals have a role to play in improving health outcomes in all populations. Similarly, the policy’s implementation will require the collaboration of psychiatric physicians, psychiatric nurses, counselors, therapists, and social workers, among other healthcare professionals.
Interprofessional collaboration, training, shared decision-making, and shared goals and values are some of the essential best practices necessary for implementing this policy. Shared goals, values, and decision-making all build on professional collaboration critical to the success of the interventions (Riskiyana et al., 2018). Shared decision-making and communication will ensure the involvement of all healthcare professionals involved. Hence, working towards the same goal and ensuring a holistic approach towards youths’ access to care and treatment of PTSD.
Essentially, the proposed policy enhances the efficiency of the interventions when each professional plays their role in improving the health outcomes of youths with PTSD since the team’s combination can be found in any healthcare facility. Besides, social workers can trace youths with PTSD who have failed to seek help in the community and refer them to community programs and mental health institutions.
Therefore, the healthcare setting will achieve high-quality outcomes for youths with PTSD. PTSD is experienced by everyone differently, and the steps taken to seek help are distinct. The policy proposed does not cover individualizing PTSD care and treatment options. Further information on individualized patient-centered care for PTSD would improve the policy interventions.
Conclusion
Youths aged 18-24 with PTSD are at a risk that often goes unmentioned, especially since most of them do not seek help adequately. However, they can be helped to overcome PTSD and other mental disorders and take care of their mental health. With the help of the relevant authorities, the policy and guidelines proposed will adequately address the youths’ PTSD crisis.
MSNFP6026 Biopsychosocial Population Health Policy References
Riskiyana, R., Claramita, M., & Rahayu, G. R. (2018). Objectively measured interprofessional education outcome and factors that enhance program effectiveness: A systematic review. Nurse Education Today, 66, 73-78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2018.04.014
Smith, J. R., Yaya, S., & Workneh, A. (2019). Barriers and Facilitators to Help-Seeking for Individuals With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Systematic Review. Journal of Traumatic Stress. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.22456
Watkins, L. E., Sprang, K. R., & Rothbaum, B. O. (2018). Treating PTSD: A Review of Evidence-Based Psychotherapy Interventions. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 12, 258. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00258
Lewis, S. J., Arseneault, L., Caspi, A., Fisher, H. L., Matthews, T., Moffitt, T. E., … & Danese, A. (2019). The epidemiology of trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder in a representative cohort of young people in England and Wales. The Lancet Psychiatry, 6(3), 247–256. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(19)30031-8
Velasco, A., Cruz, I. S. S., Billings, J., Jimenez, M., & Rowe, S. (2020). What are the barriers, facilitators, and interventions targeting help-seeking behaviors for common mental health problems in adolescents? A systematic review. BMC Psychiatry, 20(1), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-020-02659-0
Also Read: NURS-FPX4050 Assessment 1 Preliminary Care Coordination Plan