Advocacy Policy Defense Paper

 Advocacy Policy Defense Paper

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a chronic inflammatory lung disease that causes an obstructed airflow from the lungs. COPD is mainly manifested in chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Although COPD is not necessarily caused by smoking, smokers are at a higher risk of contracting the disease (American Lung Association, n.d.). In addition, smokers with COPD are a vulnerable health population due to the stigma they receive from the public, their families, and caregivers and the inability to cease smoking, despite its impact on the condition and their quality of life. The advocacy issue I will consider a priority moving forward with this course is reducing the number of COPD-diagnosed cases, especially among smokers. This discussion defends the policy advocacy issue by providing the importance of the advocacy issue and how it can be mitigated through policy.

Smokers with COPD have poorer health outcomes in relation to the condition since smoking increases the risk for COPD exacerbations and flare-ups. In addition, smoking increases the risk of other health conditions related to COPD, including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, blood clots, and hypertension. Reducing the number of smokers using smoking cessation and tobacco control is the most crucial factor in reducing the number of COPD cases diagnosed across different health populations (Tashkin, 2021). Therefore, it is not only essential to promote smoking cessation among smokers with COPD but also to prevent the number of smokers diagnosed with COPD by promoting smoking cessation even among smokers who have not been diagnosed with COPD. Reducing the number of smokers, in general, is vital in reducing the number of people diagnosed with COPD.

Research evidence shows that efforts to reduce the number of new COPD cases are an area of high need in the fight to address the burden of COPD across health populations (Fazleen &Wilkinson, 2020). As mentioned earlier, smoking tobacco is the major contributive cause of COPD, and thus addressing the issue of increased COPD cases would require dealing with smoking cessation and tobacco control. More so, creating healthy and safe communities means working towards reducing the number of newly diagnosed cases of major health concerns such as COPD. Efforts to reduce the number of COPD-diagnosed cases are also required as a baseline to protect at-risk and vulnerable populations such as smokers with COPD. Therefore, the advocacy issue requires attention through policy.

There are various ways in which the advocacy issue can be mitigated or eliminated through policy. Federal policies can be developed to mandate healthcare professionals to educate patients and the general population on COPD prevention, management, complications, and how to avoid them. Education to the general public is the first step to reducing the number of COPD diagnoses since people will understand how the disease may impact their health and quality of life and thus take preventive measures. Additionally, the policy will enable care providers to educate patients on COPD management and complications, thus promoting self-management best practices to reduce cases of complications, emergency hospital visits, and mortality rates (Lareau et al., 2019). It is worth noting that mandating education to patients and the general population will reduce disparities in vulnerable populations since all patients and members of the general public will receive the education without discrimination.

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Policy on increased funding to support COPD prevention programs through smoking cessation can also help mitigate the advocacy issue. These programs can promote smoking cessation and promote cessation programs to the public. Access to smoking cessation programs will reduce smoking among the public, thus reducing the number of COPD cases diagnosed among smokers. According to Pezuto & Carico (2020), smoking cessation is the most effective way of reducing COPD cases among smokers.

Nurses play a significant role in advocating for various issues affecting health populations. In this case, our role is to advocate for policy changes to increase taxes n tobacco products and funding for COPD prevention, especially smoking cessation programs. Therefore, the number of COPD cases among smokers will reduce, thus contributing to addressing the health issue.

 

References

Fazleen, A., & Wilkinson, T. (2020). Early COPD: current evidence for diagnosis and management. Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Disease, 14, 1753466620942128. https://doi.org/10.1177/1753466620942128

Lareau, S. C., Fahy, B., Meek, P., & Wang, A. (2019). Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). American Journal of Respiratory and critical care medicine, 199(1), P1-P2. https://doi.org/10.1164/rccm.1991P1

Pezzuto, A., & Carico, E. (2020). Effectiveness of smoking cessation in smokers with COPD and nocturnal oxygen desaturation: Functional analysis. The Clinical Respiratory Journal, 14(1), 29–34. https://doi.org/10.1111/crj.13096

Tashkin D. P. (2021). Smoking cessation in COPD: Confronting the challenge. Internal and Emergency Medicine, 16(3), 545–547. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11739-021-02710-2

The American Lung Association. (n.d.). COPD Policy and Advocacy. https://www.lung.org/policy-advocacy/healthcare-lung-disease/copd-advocacy

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WEEK 2 ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
ADVOCACY AREA
In the first two Discussions, you identified a vulnerable or marginalized population for whom you can determine an issue that could be addressed through engaging in policy advocacy. Now it is time to present this advocacy area with evidence to support and defend your selection. Such an understanding helps explain how healthy cell activity contributes to good health. Just as importantly, it helps explain how breakdowns in cellular behavior cells lead to health issues.
For this Assignment, you will explain and defend your selected advocacy issue. Using evidence and experience, you will determine the advocacy issue most important to your practice and organization. Why are you selecting this issue? Why is this an area of high need? How might this area be improved with policy? What can you do to advocate for this area of need?
ASSIGNMENT: 1 page
THE ASSIGNMENT: (1 PAGE)
Select an issue you find most important, and then defend your position in a persuasive paper.
Submit a 1-page persuasive argument defending why you selected the advocacy issue to move forward with as your priority in this course.
Support—with evidence—why this advocacy issue is most important, and how it might be mitigated or eliminated through policy. Consider how this issue might set your policy agenda.
Reminder: The College of Nursing requires that all papers submitted include a title page, introduction, summary, and references. The Walden Writing Center Sample Paper provides an example of those required elements (available at https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/templates/general#s-lg-box-20293632Links to an external site.). All papers submitted must use this formatting.

Learning Resources to Help with Assignment:
• Dawes, Daniel E. (2020). The political determinants of health. Johns Hopkins University Press.
o Chapter 3, “The Political Determinants of Health Model” (pp. 41-77)
• Get it Right! A Global Health Channel. (2020). How to Understand What Are Vulnerable Groups in Less than 3 MinutesLinks to an external site.? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbDRgbI8rsA
Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 3 minutes.
Links to an external site.
• HMS DICP. (2020). Voting, Links to an external site.Health Policy, and Social JusticeLinks to an external site.: Political Determinants of Health. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17CDLlXSSMc
Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 58 minutes.
Links to an external site.
• Malloy, Donald. (2020). Vulnerable Populations in HealthcareLinks to an external site.: Do you Know Who They Are? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h35EQ4Amqto
Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 3 minutes.
Links to an external site.
• Satcher Health Leadership Institute. (2021). The Political Determinants of Health — Jessica’s StoryLinks to an external site.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmMutvgQIcU
Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 5 minutes.
This instructor is tough and likes details and examples. The selected population of health I chose is Smokers with COPD