NURS 8100 Discussion: Nursing and Health Policy in Other Nations
Discussion: Nursing and Health Policy in Other Nations
In this week’s learning resources we reviewed how healthcare is provided in various countries impacting the international continuum of care. This international continuum of care has been a topic of interest for centuries, but really pick up momentum as individuals gained access to convenient and fast international travel. Bodenheimer & Grumback (2020) shared that there is no universal design for healthcare delivery. This discrepancy can be a barrier and opportunity for each country to tailor the delivery system to what their population of citizens. For example, social determinants of health are addressed differently in each country. Additionally, various nursing organizations are also focused on the international continuum of care. The International Council of Nursing (n.d.) is focused on several international nursing policies like socio-economic welfare. This is a demonstration of the role of an international organization in developing policy.
I am currently working in collaboration with a university in Rwanda creating curriculum content for a Nursing Leadership and Midwifery graduate level program. I am also an international nursing mentor and am working with students in Rwanda and Kenya on implementing quality improvement projects. The country that I am comparing to the U.S. is Rwanda.
A policy that Rwanda’s Ministry of Health (n.d.) is working on is related to how social determinants of health are addressed. Rwanda is currently rebounding from civil war in the mid 1990’s. In the past several decades they have made significant improvements in address it’s citizens social determinants of health. However, the country has an opportunity to optimize this effort due to persistent extreme poverty, overexploited land, and effects of climate change on housing and healthcare (Government of the Republic of Rwanda Ministry of Health, n.d.). The country’s nursing population is also largely midwives due to lack of providers in the country. Bazirete et. al. (2020) shared how social determinants of health impact maternal mortality and morbidity in rural Rwanda.
Social determinants of health is also a policy that is address in the U.S. The American Academy of Nursing has a policy from 2019
which prioritizes a focus on social determinants of health for nursing (Kuehnert et. al., 2022). We’ve incorporated social determinants of health into screening tools and electronic health records to provide targeted population health to support our existing healthcare system and reduce the burden on resources. Bedside nursing is incorporating social determinants of health into clinical practice by allowing the information to impact clinical decision making for improved health outcomes (Phillips et. al., 2020).
From the comparison between how Rwanda and the U.S. are creating policy around social determinants of health I’ve gained an understanding of how different the social needs of each country can be. Additionally, I’ve gained an understanding that it’s challenging to compare a third world and first world healthcare system. Each country is working with vastly different healthcare resources, infrastructure, and population health needs.
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References
Bazirete, O., Nzayirambaho, M., Umubyeyi, A., Uwimana, M. C., & Evans, M. (2020). Influencing factors for prevention of postpartum hemorrhage and early detection of childbearing women at risk in Northern Province of Rwanda: beneficiary and health worker perspectives. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 20(1), 678. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-020-03389-7
Bodenheimer, T., & Grumbach, K. (2020). Understanding health policy: A clinical approach (8th ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Government of the Republic of Rwanda Ministry of Health. (n.d.). Policies. https://www.moh.gov.rw/publications/policies
International Council of Nurses. (n.d.). https://www.icn.ch/nursing-policy
Kuehnert, P., Fawcett, J., DePriest, K. N., Chinn, P., Cousin, L., Ervin, N., Flanagan, J., Fry- Bowers, E., Killion, C., Maliski, S., Manughan, E., Meade, C., Murray, T., Schenk, B., & Waite, R. (2022). Defining the social determinants of health for nursing action to achieve health equity: A consensus paper from the American Academy of Nursing. Nursing Outlook, 70(1), 10-27. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2021.08.003
Phillips, J., Richard, A., Mayer, K. M., Shilkaitis, M., Fogg, L. F., & Vondracek, H. (2020). Integrating the social determinants of health into nursing practice: Nurses’ perspectives. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 52(5), 497–505. https://doi.org/10.1111/jnu.12584
Thank you for a very informative and thoughtful post. I like you have an interest in international nursing. I have been able to travel two times to Nicaragua and once to Tanzania on collaborative medical and nursing mission trips. I think it is very interesting that you mention the focus on social determinants of health in third-world countries. I have long been an advocate for asking people to learn from a different lens by stepping out of their comfort zone and seeing things from another’s perspective. In an article by Johnston et al. (2022) the authors conducted a literature review examining the effects of requiring midwifery students to take an international education course prior to getting into midwifery school to begin to recognize cultural differences and apply newly learned skills and techniques in their actual graduate-level course work. Additionally, Eden et al. (2021) also conducted a literature review to examine the challenges international students and international midwifery students faced when engaging in traditional American academic settings. What was learned from both literature reviews is that more support and exposure were needed to fully complement an understanding of cultural differences. The recognition of the need for more exposure to cultural differences was evident in the participants. As I returned from each trip I remember seeing the world of healthcare from a completely different lens, a lens that highlighted how fortunate we are in this country, but also opened my eyes to situations where social determinants of health care were prevalent that I had never recognized before.
References:
Eden, A., Fleet, J.-A., & Cominos, N. (2021). The learning experiences of international students in nursing and midwifery programs: A literature review. Nurse Education in Practice, 52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2021.103027
Johnston, J., McKenna, L., Malik, G., & Reisenhofer, S. (2022). Reported outcomes of nursing or midwifery students participating in international educational programs in their pre-registration education: A narrative systematic review. Nurse Education Today, 111. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2022.105320
Excellent work with your contribution to a country challenged with inadequate economic resources to meet the basic health needs of their populations. Unfortunately, some countries cannot meet their citizens’ demands for basic living due to scarcity of resources because of infinite human wants, including greed for power, money, and control. People in poorer countries are born, grow, work, live, and age under social inequities that shape their daily life conditions and influence their health outcomes. Factors impacting this include economic policies and systems, development agendas, social norms, and political systems (World Health Organization, 2021). Nevertheless, the success of a country is linked to the social well-being of all individuals in a country, and therefore, investing in improving the social well-being of every individual in society to reach their fullest potential is critically important( Castrucci & Auerbach, 2019). Islam (2019) noted that the Global Commission on Social Determinants of Health highlighted three critical action areas to address inequities in health. The three crucial action areas were improving daily living conditions, tackling the inequitable distribution of power, money, and resources, measuring and understanding the problem, and assessing the impact of the action (Islam., 2019). Essentially, we need more policymakers like you to implement policy changes that target social determinants of health. As policymakers, they have the power to address the social and economic conditions affecting communities’ health globally(Castrucci & Auerbach, 2019). So, I applaud you for taking this journey to help those less fortunate than us.
References
Castrucci, B., & Auerbach, J. (2019). Meeting individual social needs falls short of addressing social determinants of health. Health Affairs Blog, 10.
Islam, M. M. (2019). Social determinants of health and related inequalities: confusion and implications. Frontiers in pub
World Health Organization (2021). Social determinant of health.https://www.who.int/health-topics/social-determinants-of-health#tab=tab_1
In this week’s learning resources we reviewed how healthcare is provided in various countries impacting the international continuum of care. This international continuum of care has been a topic of interest for centuries, but really pick up momentum as individuals gained access to convenient and fast international travel. Bodenheimer & Grumback (2020) shared that there is no universal design for healthcare delivery. This discrepancy can be a barrier and opportunity for each country to tailor the delivery system to what their population of citizens. For example, social determinants of health are addressed differently in each country. Additionally, various nursing organizations are also focused on the international continuum of care. The International Council of Nursing (n.d.) is focused on several international nursing policies like socio-economic welfare. This is a demonstration of the role of an international organization in developing policy.
I am currently working in collaboration with a university in Rwanda creating curriculum content for a Nursing Leadership and Midwifery graduate level program. I am also an international nursing mentor and am working with students in Rwanda and Kenya on implementing quality improvement projects. The country that I am comparing to the U.S. is Rwanda.
A policy that Rwanda’s Ministry of Health (n.d.) is working on is related to how social determinants of health are addressed. Rwanda is currently rebounding from civil war in the mid 1990’s. In the past several decades they have made significant improvements in address it’s citizens social determinants of health. However, the country has an opportunity to optimize this effort due to persistent extreme poverty, overexploited land, and effects of climate change on housing and healthcare (Government of the Republic of Rwanda Ministry of Health, n.d.). The country’s nursing population is also largely midwives due to lack of providers in the country. Bazirete et. al. (2020) shared how social determinants of health impact maternal mortality and morbidity in rural Rwanda.
Social determinants of health is also a policy that is address in the U.S. The American Academy of Nursing has a policy from 2019 which prioritizes a focus on social determinants of health for nursing (Kuehnert et. al., 2022). We’ve incorporated social determinants of health into screening tools and electronic health records to provide targeted population health to support our existing healthcare system and reduce the burden on resources. Bedside nursing is incorporating social determinants of health into clinical practice by allowing the information to impact clinical decision making for improved health outcomes (Phillips et. al., 2020).
From the comparison between how Rwanda and the U.S. are creating policy around social determinants of health I’ve gained an understanding of how different the social needs of each country can be. Additionally, I’ve gained an understanding that it’s challenging to compare a third world and first world healthcare system. Each country is working with vastly different healthcare resources, infrastructure, and population health needs.
References
Bazirete, O., Nzayirambaho, M., Umubyeyi, A., Uwimana, M. C., & Evans, M. (2020). Influencing factors for prevention of postpartum hemorrhage and early detection of childbearing women at risk in Northern Province of Rwanda: beneficiary and health worker perspectives. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 20(1), 678. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-020-03389-7
Bodenheimer, T., & Grumbach, K. (2020). Understanding health policy: A clinical approach (8th ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Government of the Republic of Rwanda Ministry of Health. (n.d.). Policies. https://www.moh.gov.rw/publications/policies
International Council of Nurses. (n.d.). https://www.icn.ch/nursing-policy
Kuehnert, P., Fawcett, J., DePriest, K. N., Chinn, P., Cousin, L., Ervin, N., Flanagan, J., Fry- Bowers, E., Killion, C., Maliski, S., Manughan, E., Meade, C., Murray, T., Schenk, B., & Waite, R. (2022). Defining the social determinants of health for nursing action to achieve health equity: A consensus paper from the American Academy of Nursing. Nursing Outlook, 70(1), 10-27. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2021.08.003
Phillips, J., Richard, A., Mayer, K. M., Shilkaitis, M., Fogg, L. F., & Vondracek, H. (2020). Integrating the social determinants of health into nursing practice: Nurses’ perspectives. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 52(5), 497–505. https://doi.org/10.1111/jnu.12584