The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was passed into legislation in March of 2010. Identify the impact of this legislation on your nursing practice by choosing two key nursing provisions outlined in the topic material “Nursing and Health Reform.” Discuss how these two provisions have impacted, or will impact, your current practice of nursing.
Sample Answer
Impact of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) to Nursing Practice
One of the notable effects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is the increase in demand for healthcare needs. Increase in these needs has been contributed by increase in the number of individuals covered under policy. Increased demand for healthcare needs automatically means more pressure on nurses regarding the number of patients supposed to be served (Rosenbaum, 2011). Additionally, this increase also implies need for diverse expertise to deal with different needs and illnesses which may arise. In short, one of the key effects of this policy on nursing practice is increased demand for nursing services. Secondly, emergence of difference illnesses as a result of this Act has compelled us to undergo more training to gain more skills and expertise required to deal with emerging diseases and needs.
To ensure that there is sufficient number of nurses who posses necessary skills, the policy has outlined various provisions aimed at facilitating the process. One of the primary provisions highlighted in “Nursing and Health Reform” is healthcare workforce loan repayment plans (Brody & Sullivan-Marx, 2012). The objective of this plan is to initiate a loan repayment program for those who will be willing to operate in a surgical or pediatric medical specialty, behavioral health care or child mental for a minimum of 2 years in an undeserved location. Recipients will include social workers, school/professional counselors and psychiatric nurses. Each will get $35,000 per year.
The second provision is public health workforce recruitment and retention plans. These programs will initiate Public Health Workforce Repayment Program. The aim of this plan is to ensure that there is sufficient supply of public health personnel to reduce cases of shortages of workforce in healthcare. HHC will cater for up to a third of loans incurred public health student. In exchange, the nursing student will be required to sign an employment agreement with health institution for a minimum of 3 years (Brody & Sullivan-Marx, 2012).
With these two provisions together with others not highlighted above, it is evident that they are likely to affect my nursing practice significantly. One, we are likely to experience more enrollment by nurses into training as a result of incentive programs. Secondly, the problem of shortage of nurses is likely to reduce especially with the introduction of Public Health Workforce Repayment Program.
References
Brody, A., & Sullivan-Marx, E. (2012). The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Implications for Geriatric Nurses and Patients. Journal Of Gerontological Nursing, 38(11), 3-5. doi: 10.3928/00989134-20121008-01
Rosenbaum, S. (2011). The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Implications for Public Health Policy and Practice. Public Health Reports, 126(1), 130-135. doi: 10.1177/003335491112600118
