Essay Sample on Advanced Practice Nursing: Quality Care & Cost Reduction

Introduction

In advanced practice nursing (APN), some standards have been put in place to guide the scope of practice. Apart from the standards, there are also cost-effective measures that have been documented to ensure that costs are reduced and quality and optimal care is provided to patients. Nurse practitioners have played an important in effecting such changes in the healthcare system. They have ensured the provision of quality healthcare to patients and have countered the rising demand for changes in the healthcare system. Different examples of how nurse practitioners are effective to have been provided. The implementation of cost-effective measures is essential for today's healthcare system. Poor cost-effective measures have placed burdens on families and especially those with no insurance or insurance that only covers a section of the treatment process.

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Access

Ensuring that there is access to healthcare is very important in the overall healthcare system. Increasing access is one of the ways through which quality in healthcare can be assured (Joel, 2018). Access ensures that individuals receive quality services across the continuum of care. For example, the availability of insurance does not determine whether one has access or not. Apart from this, nurses should be available at all times to ensure access to healthcare. Those without insurance and those that are underinsured face the most challenge in accessing healthcare services. Other factors that affect access to healthcare include services paid for, payment levels, and the person that receives the payment (Joel, 2018). With this in consideration, nurses can play an essential role in ensuring access at all levels of care.

Evaluation and role development can be easy when access to care is increased by APNs. Increasing access to care will have a positive impact on patient-related, performance-related, and care-related factors in the healthcare system (Fagerstrom, 2012). For example, it can be easy to measure factors such as hospital readmission rates, mortality rates, costs, and prescriptions among others. The development of APNs can be easily measured when access is increased. For example, evidence has shown that APN care leads to fewer days in the hospital and as such increases patient satisfaction (Fagerstrom, 2012). Through such care, APNs have increased access to care. APNs have also ensured access to care at all levels through such actions.

Performance-related factors can be used in role development for the APNs. Through performance-related factors, some aspects that can be measured include interpersonal skills, quality of clinical examination, documentation, and the quality of care provided (Fagerstrom, 2012). When challenges are identified in these areas, training and education can be provided to the APNs to help in improving access to care. For example, they can be educated on how to handle underinsured patients without compromising the quality of care provided to them.

Cost

The cost has been a major issue in the healthcare system. The quality of healthcare that is provided to patients is determined by the available costs. It is the same case even when the APNs are involved. Some of the costs that are related to the quality of care provided are used for research, insurance, pharmaceuticals, education, services provided, and institutional costs among others (Fagerstrom, 2012). The cost of providing care does not only affect the healthcare system, but also its consumers. In the case of healthcare providers, the costs involved are related to insurance, program administration, and work time (Fagerstrom, 2012). Expenditures majorly affect the ability of APNs to provide quality care. Without insurance, it is difficult for some APNs to provide quality care. For APNs to work effectively, a healthcare organization must pay for supplies and equipment and also personnel costs. It is for this reason that healthcare organizations provide different qualities of care despite having the same abilities. If a healthcare organization is unable to pay an APN for his or her services, the APN will not work as required.

An APN must be aware of the costs that are borne by the consumers. The major issues that consumers are worried about are the costs that they have to pay for healthcare services if they have no insurance or they are underinsured (Fagerstrom, 2012). In most cases, the cost of healthcare is very high when there is no adequate insurance. It is especially a challenge for poor families that cannot afford insurance or even the healthcare itself. Therefore, consumers are also wary about insurance costs, the cost of services, and the cost of medication. If the costs are high or there is no insurance, consumers may fail to seek care from the APNs. Therefore, APNs have an important role to play in educating the public on how to access care whether it based on insurance, underinsurance, and out-of-pocket costs. Healthcare organizations have also the important duty of training APNs on such issues. It will help APNs to determine the type of care that they can provide to patients. Evidence has shown that over the past 50 years, nurse practitioners have been cost-effective in the provision of quality healthcare (American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 2020). Cost-effective has been seen in areas such as education, compensation, and health-related outcomes.

Quality Environments and Quality Initiatives

The provision of quality care is the core value of the healthcare system. Access, costs, and delivery systems are some of the factors that have affected the quality of care provided to patients (Joel, 2018). Other factors that have been used in describing quality include outcome, performance, report cards, structure, quality assessment and accountability among others. Therefore, an APN must be aware of such factors to ensure that they give the best to the patients (Joel, 2018). For example, he or she can explain to a patient how insurance relates to the quality of care provided. The method of evaluating the quality of care provided by APNs can also be measured based on these factors. Education can be provided to the APNs to support role development in the provision of quality care.

Recent quality initiatives have shown the important role of APNs in ensuring access to quality healthcare. The implementation of these initiatives has set standards that are used in the evaluation and role development for the APNs. For example, the initiatives can be applied in measuring the quality of services that are provided by APNs (Joel, 2018). The IOM's Quality Roundtable is based on factors such as using data to determine improvement needs, benchmarking, reporting to stakeholders, making decisions, and addressing healthcare needs. Government agencies have also played an important in establishing standards that are to be followed in measuring quality performance. Such standards can be applied in promoting role development.

Conclusion

APNs have played an essential role in influencing the changes that have been implemented in the healthcare system. They have not only improved access to care, but they have also helped in the reduction of costs, and the provision of quality care. Through the establishment of standards, it has been possible to educate the nurse practitioners and also support role development. Quality initiatives have also helped in establishing standards that can be imitated across the healthcare system.

References

American Association of Nurse Practitioners (2020). Nurse practitioner cost-effectiveness. Retrieved from https://www.aanp.org/advocacy/advocacy-resource/position-statements/position-statements

Fagerstrom, L. (2012). The impact of advanced practice nursing in healthcare: Recipe for developing countries. Annals of Neurosciences 19(1); 1-2.

Joel, L. A. (2018). Advanced practice nursing: Essentials for role development. FA Davis Company: Philadelphia, United States.