Health Care Policy

The project is designed to give you a greater understanding of health care policy, how it is implemented at various levels, and the advanced practice nurse’s role in policy development and implementation. It is a fairly extensive project based on Healthy People 2020. I suggest that you review this criteria and begin collecting information early in the course.
Directions
First, you will explore Healthy People 2020 and select one objective that reflects your nursing interests. It is best to select an objective that is fairly concrete and measurable. For example, it is easier to research an objective related to blood pressure than an objective relating to increasing access to health care. Choose an objective that is the same or nearly the same as an objective in Healthy People 2010. This makes it easier evaluate whether there has been progress or not.

In your Perspectives Project Paper, you will document the following content areas. Be sure to use APA format for cover page and utilize headings to make your paper more logically organized.
1. Provide a brief history of your HP 2020 objective including the ending status of its HP2010 counterpart. Use Healthy People Progress Reports to obtain this information. Report national, state and local statistics for your HP2020 objective. Some possible sources for this data include updates on the Healthy People website, state data bases, CDC Wonder, special project data, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly, etc. (Was there improvement or not?)
2. Propose how Change Theory can be applied to your chosen objective’s area of focus.
3. Discuss the reasons for achievement or failure to achieve the HP2010 objective that corresponds to your HP 2020 objective.
4. Conduct a review of the literature and summarize readings from your text and other resources in relation to your HP2020 objective. This is your literature review on the topic. Provide some background on the health issue. Discuss current standards of care and research on the topic. Use your text, reliable on-line information, and professional literature from nursing and other health professions. Avoid relying entirely on web sites for information.
5. Describe the role of government/private agencies in the implementation of your objective. For example, does your state have a tobacco cessation initiative? If so, describe it. Be sure to relate it to your objective.
6. Identify implications for advanced nursing practice, education, health care policy development, and/or research related to your selected objective (in what ways can an advanced practice nurse play a role in the implementation of your HP objective?).
7. Explain the role of support groups (local, state, and national/international) related to your objective. Who founded these groups and when? Identify at least two local support groups and at least 2 web resources for referral of clients related to your specific HP2020 objective.
8. Provide a succinct conclusion that ties key concepts together and summarizes important points of your paper.
9. Prepare a comprehensive reference list. Make sure that you have used and cited nursing journal articles, current research, and web references. The quality of your references will be strongly considered when grading the paper. In graduate level courses, make sure that your reference lists reflect thorough examination of the professional literature. Some people in the past have relied on web sites for their entire paper. It is OK if you access the professional literature via the web (as when searching the ISU library website for references). Be careful to cite your references, including the websites, in APA format