Benchmark – Policy Brief in Healthcare

Benchmark – Policy Brief in Healthcare Instructions

The benchmark assesses the following competencies:

1.4 Participate in health care policy development to influence nursing practice and health care.

Research public health issues on the \”Climate Change\” or \”Topics and Issues\” pages of the American Public Health Association (APHA) website. Investigate a public health issue related to an environmental issue within the U.S. health care delivery system and examine its effect on a specific population.

Benchmark - Policy Brief in Healthcare

Write a 750-1,000-word policy brief that summarizes the issue, explains the effect on the population, and proposes a solution to the issue. Benchmark – Policy Brief in Healthcare

Follow this outline when writing the policy brief:

Describe the policy health issue. Include the following information: (a) what population is affected, (b) at what level does it occur (local, state, or national), and (c) evidence about the issues supported by resources.
Create a problem statement.
Provide suggestions for addressing the health issue caused by the current policy. Describe what steps are required to initiate policy change. Include necessary stakeholders (government officials, administrator) and budget or funding considerations, if applicable.
Discuss the impact on the health care delivery system.
Include three peer-reviewed sources and two other sources to support the policy brief.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this Benchmark – Policy Brief in Healthcare assignment to LopesWrite. Refer to the LopesWrite Technical Support articles for assistance.

Benchmark – Policy Brief Sample Paper

Climate change has had a tremendous effect on public health as well as the environment. The effect is well identified and recorded. Discussion on the causes of climate change is ongoing, and most researchers agree that air pollution is the major cause. The effects of air pollution are widely known. For instance, in the United States alone, numerous regions are affected by decreased air quality, which is a major cause of health problems such as asthma and allergies, among many other respiratory diseases. Air pollution exposes populations that are most susceptible to the dangers of its damaging influence. In this paper, air pollution as a policy brief issue, the populations that are affected primarily will be considered, its impact on healthcare delivery systems will be discussed, and possible solutions that can be used for improvement. Benchmark – Policy Brief in Healthcare

Policy Health Issue

The release of substances to the environment, mostly into the atmosphere, is renowned as air pollution. It is injurious to the world’s environment and dangerous to people’s health (Lu, 2020). Respiratory health issues are the main issues brought about by air pollution. This is a result of the suspension of harmful substances in the air that people breathe. Among these substances are exhaust gases from vehicles, factories, smoke fires, as well as volcano gases. All these are sources of air pollution. When the gases mentioned above are released into the atmosphere, they create smog, which is harmful to human beings, especially those with pre-existing respiratory diseases. Additionally, respiratory diseases exposed to polluted air lead to heart illnesses, lung illnesses, and cancers, among several other illnesses (NASA, 2020 Benchmark – Policy Brief in Healthcare).

Even though air pollution has harmful effects on everyone, children are the most vulnerable group. Around 93% of children below the age of 15 years are said to be exposed to polluted air that places their health, their growth, and their overall development at risk (Gouiveia et al., 2018; World Health Organization, 2020 Benchmark – Policy Brief in Healthcare).

 Children are exposed to more risk by air pollution as they breathe at a higher rate than adults. Also, children are said to inhale faster than adults, and therefore, they get to absorb more pollutants. Children who have suffered from respiratory illnesses experience more damage when exposed to air pollution. Their respiratory systems may not effectively filter air. Air pollution also intensifies existing respiratory illnesses such as asthma and cystic fibrosis, leading to comorbidities, and at times, death. Women are also affected adversely by air pollution during pregnancy. Air pollution leads to increased incidences of premature births and low birth weight. Due to exposure during pregnancy, children born are at a high risk of cardiovascular illnesses and other illnesses later during development (World Health Organization, 2020 Benchmark – Policy Brief in Healthcare).

The effects of air pollution are felt by people worldwide; it is a global problem. It is a dangerous issue, a silent killer, affecting many people as everyone has to breathe every day and every minute of their lives. Therefore, everyone is exposed to the harmful substances contained in the polluted air. The United States has passed laws protecting air quality and to safeguard the health of the citizens. In 1955, the Air pollution control act, the first control to regulate air pollution, was passed (The United States Environment Protection Agency, 2017). The second one, Clean Air Act, was passed in 1963. This gave the go-ahead for financing programs and different research to monitor and keep air pollution under control (United States Environmental Agency, 2017 Benchmark – Policy Brief in Healthcare).

Problem Statement

Today, many deaths in the world are due to air pollution, and the illnesses brought about by air pollution. Being the most affected group, children are even at a high risk of their health being altered throughout their life. Poor air quality outdoors also can affect inside air quality (Simeonova et al., 2019). Globally, people are familiar with the effects of the decreasing air quality. If this issue continues this way without any intervention, people’s health will continue to be affected at an accelerating pace. Diseases resulting from air pollution shall also be rampant. Dealing with it requires the effort of everyone, which will, in turn, help improve people’s health globally and their quality of life. However, if nothing will be done towards it, it might require people to use oxygen masks as the air might be extremely polluted, and this may occur even before the year 2030 (Simeonova et al., 2019 Benchmark – Policy Brief in Healthcare).

Addressing the Health Issue

For us to address air pollution effectively, it is important to pay attention to the factors contributing to air pollution. Among the major pollutant factors requiring attention include reducing and then getting rid of fossil fuels (petrol, diesel, paraffin), encouraging electric cars and using public transport, reducing the burning of waste, and encouraging recycling waste (Reddy & Roberts, 2018). The public should be sensitized to air pollution while emphasizing the replacement of fossil fuels with the use of eco-friendly energies such as geothermal. The issue of energy conservation and efficiency should also be taken into consideration (Reddy & Roberts, 2018 Benchmark – Policy Brief in Healthcare). To begin a policy change, the first thing would be identifying the areas requiring improvement, followed by research on the effect air pollution causes on various populations. Once that is done, recommendations for improvement should be given. Finally, the results should be presented to all stakeholders and implement the policy and its implementation (DIY Guide, 2020). The final policy should then be presented for further review and approval by relevant parties such as governments, environmentalists, and public health workers.

Impact on Health Delivery System

The implementation of the air pollution policy could reduce the cases of air pollution-related illnesses. About 33 million emergency room cases that occur annually result from respiratory illnesses and asthma (Martin et al., 2018 Benchmark – Policy Brief in Healthcare). The cost of hospitalization can be decreased by reduction of exposure to polluted air. Most importantly, it would play a big role in improving the quality of life for all populations globally. 

Conclusion

Everyone feels the effect of air pollution because it is rampant today. The most vulnerable group is children as seen above. Interventions to reverse the effects are required to be implemented urgently. Changes should be done to improve the air quality both for communities indoors and outdoors. Just As in other health issues, nurses have an important role in educating the public on the importance of keeping the air clean and effects of air pollution. Together with other healthcare workers, Nurses can sensitize the public that air pollution leads to a lot of damage to adults and children. To enhance perceived severity, the healthcare team should disclose these effects of air pollution which include respiratory, cardiac and allergic emergencies. To deal with this issue, every stakeholder should take part urgently. It is the responsibility of every one of us to reverse the effects of air pollution.

Benchmark – Policy Brief in Healthcare Paper Reference