Part 2: A Plan for Social Change Reflect on the global health policy comparison and analysis you conducted in Part 1 of the Assignment and the impact that global health issues may have on the world, the U.S., your community, as well as your practice as a nurse leader. In a 1-page response, create a plan for social change that incorporates a global perspective or lens into your local practice and role as a nurse leader. Explain how you would advocate for the incorporation of a global perspective or lens into your local practice and role as a nurse leader. Explain how the incorporation of a global perspective or lens might impact your local practice and role as a nurse leader. Explain how the incorporation of a global perspective or lens into your local practice as a nurse leader represents and contributes to social change. Be specific and provide examples

 


 	


Expert Answer and Explanation
Advancing Health for All

There are several health issues affecting the global healthcare system. One way of addressing these issues is through policy formulation and implementation. This paper will review one of the global issues, namely advancing health for all, comparing how these issues are addressed in the US and Australia. The paper will also evaluate the impact of global perspectives on the nurse leader role and its impact on social change.

Global Health Comparison Grid 



Global Healthcare Issue
Advancing health for all


Description
A system is as good as its weakest link. The recent COVID-19 pandemic provided clear lessons on the need to advance healthcare access, making it accessible to all. Most countries are facing disparities in healthcare coverage and provision. These disparities emerge from the healthcare financing structure, availability of healthcare workers, social determinants of health such as poverty and education, and other systemic issues (Cash-Gibson et al., 2018). Advancing healthcare to all requires both policy and systemic transformations to meet national and global health goals on equity.


Country
United States
Australia.


Describe the policy in each country related to the identified healthcare issue.
There are several health policies that try to address the issue of health equity and advancing health for all. However, the most prominent policy is the Affordable Care Act of 2010, which expanded Medicare and Medicaid coverage to capture more people from low-income and other vulnerable populations, including the elderly (McIntyre & Song, 2019)
Australia has a Medicare program that provides free or low-cost healthcare services to all Australians who use the public healthcare system. For those who use private healthcare, the Medicare package caters for some of the expenses. The program’s financing was streamlined through the National Health Reform Agreement of 2011 (Dixit & Sambasivan, 2018).


What are the strengths of this policy?
Some of the strengths attached to the ACA include lower prescription costs and increased coverage for Americans, especially those from low-income households (McIntyre & Song, 2019). The ACA also removed the prohibitions that were initially present for people with preexisting health conditions. These efforts, in turn, made health accessible for a significant section of the population.
The strength of the Australian Medicare policy, more so through the National Health Reform Agreement of 2011, is that it does not have restrictions on access to any Australian or some overseas visitors. The Medicare system provides comprehensive coverage for a wide range of healthcare services at low cost or in some circumstances no cost at all. The policy also gives priority to prevention interventions to reduce long-term healthcare costs (Dixit & Sambasivan, 2018)


What are the weaknesses of this policy?

 

 
The ACA has its fair share of challenges, one of them being dissatisfaction related to the low impact of the policy for those who do not qualify for the ACA subsidies. Another weakness is complications related to shopping for coverage. In such a hybrid system, implementing the ACA has led to a loss in company-sponsored plans (McIntyre & Song, 2019).
Like the ACA, the National Health Reform Agreement also brings with it a significant increase in healthcare costs, overdiagnosis, and overtreatment, which the Australian government is trying to address through other policies (Dixit & Sambasivan, 2018)


Explain how the social determinants of health may impact the specified global health issue. (Be specific and provide examples)
Social determinants such as poverty affect the ability to afford healthcare services, thus impairing efforts to advance health to all, especially in systems that are not fully financed by the government like the US system.
Education level and cultural practices are among the major hindrances in advancing healthcare to all. These two determinants affect the usability of healthcare services, even when it is fully funded by the government.


How has each country’s government addressed cost, quality, and access to the selected global health issue?
The US government through the ACA introduced the aspect of value-based care model, which is a payment model that focuses more on the quality of services offered than the number of patients viewed. This approach reduces costs by cutting down on unnecessary diagnoses and hospital readmissions (McIntyre & Song, 2019).
The Australian government has been trying to cut healthcare costs by focusing more on preventive programs and incentivizing cost-reduction strategies among individual healthcare institutions (Dixit & Sambasivan, 2018). The government has also tried to incentivize quality improvement reporting in a bid to enhance quality within the overall healthcare system.


How has the identified health policy impacted the health of the global population? (Be specific and provide examples)
Policies like the ACA go towards addressing inequities within the healthcare system and, by extension, advance the United Nations Strategic Development Goals, specifically on improving global health and wellness.
The Australian healthcare system through policies such as the National Health Agreement goes toward reducing health disparities by making health affordable to all, including some non-citizens, ultimately contributing to global health equity and advancing health for all.


Describe the potential impact of the identified health policy on the role of nurses in each country.
The ACA put nurses in a position to actively participate and even lead quality improvement initiatives conforming with a value-based payment model. Additionally, the act also calls for nurses to advocate for increased healthcare coverage, especially among low-income households in a bid to enhance health equity.
The Medicare program by the Australian government gives nurses a leading role in advancing primary health care, which is a core component of the National Healthcare Reform Agreement of 2011.


Explain how global health issues impact local healthcare organizations and policies in both countries. (Be specific and provide examples)
Changing global health trends, for example, management and control of infectious diseases impact how the US government collaborates with other global partners, which also affects policies that govern such partnerships. Such policies impact different aspects of healthcare provision at the organizational level, including the availability of human and technological resources, including vaccines and medication.
Global issues such as collaborative agreements impact aspects such as the allocation of resources dedicated by each government to finance local healthcare institutions. Such collaborations are pronounced especially in healthcare systems such as the Australian healthcare system which is financed majorly by the government.


General Notes/Comments





A Plan for Social Change




As a nurse leader, it is important to understand that our practice is influenced not only at the national level but also at the global level. Similarly, the contributions we make at the local practice level to some degree affect the overall global health outcomes. One way to advocate for the incorporation of global perspectives in local practice and the role of a nurse leader is by encouraging nurses at the local practice level to apply evidence-based practice, where they scrutinize and apply the concepts from current literature, which considers best practice from different sources (Kilpatrick et al., 2023). Another way is by participating in evidence-based policy change programs, where one can give direct contributions towards policy formulation as a nurse leader, with consideration of global perspectives and best practices.