Contemporary Issues Affecting Healthcare Delivery and Nursing Practice

Guidelines and Rubric for the Contemporary Nursing Issue Project
The purpose of this assignment is to analyze a contemporary issue affecting healthcare delivery and nursing practice. This is a two-part assignment, including an expository issue paper and a presentation poster. For Part A, you will create two drafts (3% and 5% of your course grade) and a final paper (25% of your course grade). For Part B, you will create a presentation poster (10% of course grade) to disseminate your literature-based information.

The following course objectives will be addressed with this assignment:

3. Discuss the use of health models and evidence-based practice for improving health outcomes of individuals and communities.
4. Integrate knowledge from other disciplines with nursing theories and evidence to guide the development of professional nursing practice.
5. Outline critical abilities and roles of the professional, baccalaureate nurse for collaborative management of safe, quality patient care within the healthcare delivery system and the community
6. Analyze issues and trends that affect healthcare and professional nursing practice.
   Instructions
7. Review the guidelines, rubrics, and sample format document.
8. Identify a specific contemporary issue affecting healthcare delivery and the nursing profession and post your idea in the ‘Contemporary Nursing Issue Project Topic and Partner’ Discussion Board as noted in the course calendar.
   • Find the problem/issue by examining your textbook, watching television, listening to the news, reading the newspaper, attending political meetings, or simply reflecting on your surrounding work environments. The Future of Nursing 2020-2030 Report and the American Nurse’s Association website (http://www.nursingworld.org) provide information on current health/nursing issues. Examples may involve:
   • The Nursing Shortage
   • Unsafe Staffing Ratios
   • Global Pandemics
   • Diversity and Inclusion in the Workforce
   • Technology Advancements
   • Multiple Levels of Entry to Practice
   • Environmental Health Challenges
   • Burnout
   • Mental Health of Nurses
   • And more…
9. Select a partner who shares an interest in a contemporary issue affecting healthcare delivery and the nursing profession. Use the ‘Contemporary Nursing Issue Project Topic and Partner’ discussion board along with other communication methods as needed to find a partner. (Note: Partnering is expected. Special considerations may be considered for working alone. Please email your instructor individually).
10. Collect published information to describe the historical perspective of the issue. You will gather historical evidence to illustrate the nurse’s role in relation to the issue.
11. Draft the Introduction and the History of the issue sections of the paper. Submit as Draft 1 via the designated assignment link in Canvas by the deadline noted in the course calendar for faculty feedback.
12. Collect published information to describe the current state of the issue. Gather evidence from the current literature to illustrate the nurse’s role regarding the issue. Based on the historical perspectives and current outlook, discuss the future role of the nurse.

Draft the Current state of the issue, Future role of the nurse, and Conclusion sections of the paper. Apply feedback from Draft 1. Submit as Draft 2 via the designated assignment link in Canvas by the deadline noted in the course calendar for faculty feedback.

Apply feedback from Draft 2. Refine the paper for final submission. Submit via the designated assignment link in Canvas by the deadline noted in the course calendar.

Create a presentation poster to disseminate the information within the paper. Assume your paper and poster will be used to present the information to nursing colleagues.

Submit the presentation poster vis the designated assignment link in Canvas by the deadline noted in the course calendar.

In addition, the paper should meet these requirements:
• Must use at least 5 references. For the historical perspective, you are encouraged to use older primary source journal articles. Otherwise, references must be up-to-date (less than 5 years old unless historically significant or foundational).
• Must be between 3-5 pages in length, excluding the title page and reference pages. (Note: Content over 5 pages, excluding the title and reference pages, will not be graded.)
• Must follow APA format (7th edition). Use the proper font, line spacing, margins, title page, citations/reference list, page numbering, headings, etc.

Part A: Outline
Introduction

1. Hook the reader with the first sentence; Make the reader want to read more
2. Introduce the issue and main points that will be addressed in the paper
3. End with a purpose statement for the paper

History of the Issue

1. Explain the historical impacts of the issue on healthcare delivery and the nursing profession
2. Identify any strategies that have been implemented in attempts to address the issue
3. Discuss the role of the nurse throughout the history of the issue

• Review guiding questions for this section in the Sample Format document
• The American Journal of Nursing has been in production since 1900, and every issue has been digitized. You can use the JSTOR or OVID databases to search articles in this journal. These older articles would serve as primary source evidence to support the historical perspective. You may also consider searching for past position papers of major nursing organizations, legislation, court cases, old newspaper articles, etc.

Current State of the Issue

1. Describe the issue in the current healthcare environment using literature-based evidence
   • Include evidence to explain the significance and prevalence of the issue today. Prevalence does not need to be a number or percent; other information from the literature may highlight that this problem/issue is happening enough to warrant attention.
   • You must synthesize information from more than one evidence source to describe the current state of the issue. You must have at least 2 different in-text citations.
2. Explain how this issue impacts the nursing profession and healthcare delivery today
   • Include evidence from more than one source to support the significance of the impact on healthcare delivery and nursing today.
   • Discuss direct impacts – only one step away from the problem
3. Identify current initiatives/strategies targeting the issue, including the role of the nurse
   • Use current sources to identify initiatives and explain nursing’s role in implementation

Future Role of the Nurse

1. Identify priorities for the nursing profession to consider in order to impact this issue in the future
   • Use evidence to support how the historical perspective and current state of the issue influence the future role of the nurse
   • Integrate knowledge from other disciplines, nursing theories, evidence, etc., to support 2-3 actions/steps the nursing profession should prioritize to impact this issue and its effects on healthcare delivery and the nursing profession moving forward
   • You must synthesize information from more than one evidence source to support the identified priorities. You must have at least 2 different in-text citations.

Conclusion

1. Summarize the main points from the paper
   • Restate the issue
   • Summarize key points about the history of the issue, the current state of the issue, and the future of the issue, including the significance of the role of the nurse