Describe the national healthcare issue/stressor you selected and its impact on your organization. Use organizational data to quantify the impact (if necessary, seek assistance from leadership or appropriate stakeholders in your organization)

The selected healthcare issue is the presence of COVID-19 and how it has affected the nursing homes. The COVID-19 is a flu-like disease that leads to severe and life-threatening symptoms in the victims. The severity of the symptoms varies from one person to another, contingent on a number of factors (Fallon et al., 2020). Issues such as age, immune system, and other underlying issues that the patent is dealing with at the moment.

Nursing homes constitute the elderly population who have a reduced immune system and have underlying issues that make them highly susceptible to the disease. In retaliation, the COVID-19 disease has led to the creation of multiple rules and regulations that have restricted the normal operation of the facility. The restrictions are focused on the residents, the nurses, and the visitors who may wish to visit their loved ones.

One of the restrictions put in place for the residents is that they are not allowed out of their rooms and cannot freely socialize with each other. The mode of medication has been focused on psychotropic medications, which are mainly used for depression (Fallon et al., 2020). The restriction has also led to issues for the residents, such as an increase in patient falls for being confined in their rooms for longer periods.

With regards to the nurses and other health providers, it is mandated that they make use of full-body PPEs while attending to patients and change them prior to entering a different resident room (McGilton et al., 2020). The restriction and measures aim to minimize the chances of contact and spread of the virus to other patients and the nurses offering the care.

There is also increased consumption of telehealth services that reduce direct nurse-patient contact. Telehealth services increase the healthcare services while at the same time mitigating chance encounter and possible spread of the virus. There is a need for a mandatory 14-day quarantine in a different room without a roommate during transfers or office visits.

Family members are not allowed visitations to their kin unless the resident is transitioning, and death is imminent (McGilton et al., 2020). Even then, the visit is only limited to a single visitor who has to meet all the required standards set by the organization regarding visitation and meeting with patients.