Health Policy Values Discussion Paper

Write a paper of 750-1,000 words examining the influence of your personal values and beliefs on your thoughts regarding health care policy. Include the following in your response:

My personal beliefs and values are:
Personal Beliefs: Christian and my faith is very important to me. It guides all I do.
Values: Responsibility, Compassion, Honesty, Simplicity, Integrity, Diversity, Faith, Growth, Self-Awareness. justice, confidence, open-mindedness, competition, passion, longevity, humor, peace

Describe your personal values and spiritual beliefs.
Using the elements of cost, quality, and social issues to frame your description, discuss your beliefs and opinions about health care policy. Give examples of relevant ethical principles, supported by your values.
Analyze how factors such as your upbringing, spiritual or religious beliefs/doctrine, personal and professional experiences, and political ideology affect your current perspective on health care policy.
Examine any inconsistencies you discovered relative to the alignment of your personal values and beliefs with those concerning health policy. Discuss what insights this has given you.
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Health Policy Values

Describe your personal values and spiritual beliefs.

I am an active Christian who believes that spiritual faith is important. I understand that as a human being, I was specially created by God. The purpose of my creation is to serve and worship God through using the best of my abilities to serve others. My Christian faith concedes that all humans are created in the image of God and are God’s representatives on earth. Since my purpose is to serve and worship God, then it is only right that I extend my service to other humans.

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My spiritual faith and experiences have guided my personal values that include: responsibility, compassion, honesty, simplicity, integrity, diversity, faith, growth, self-awareness. justice, confidence, open-mindedness, competition, passion, longevity, humor, and peace. These values are the broad desirable goals that continuously motivate my actions and serve as the guiding principles in my personal and professional life.

The combination of my spiritual beliefs and personal values have guided me towards seeking a career focused on service to others. It is for this reason that I opted for a career in nursing. I perceive nursing as an opportunity to serve others using unique skills even as I earn a living. In addition, serving as a nurse ensures that I am business and leverage my competencies in building my society. Overall, my personal values and spiritual beliefs are oriented towards service to others as an imperative.

Using the elements of cost, quality, and social issues to frame your description, discuss your beliefs and opinions about health care policy.

Health care policies are the overarching goals and principles that dictate the approaches applied in health care access and delivery. They set the general action plan that guides decision making efforts and achievement of desired outcomes. In fact, policies are important for informing stakeholders, building consensus, defining roles, outlining priorities, and defining a vision for the future. The development of policies is guided by cost, quality and social concerns. Firstly, they are guided by costs since resources are limited so that they cannot be applied in all areas of need. Costs are a major factor in choosing a policy. This implies that cost must be prioritized in policy development with a focus on settling on an acceptable cost or selecting a policy frame that minimizes costs and maximizes returns (Milstead & Short, 2019).

Secondly, they are guided by quality concerns since each policy is expected to achieve a desired quality outcome. There are six significant quality concerns in policy development: patient-centeredness, equitability, efficiency, effectiveness, timeliness, and safety. Patient-centered policy is respectful of and responsive to the values, needs and preferences of each individual, even in decision making. Equitable policy does not vary the intervention because of personal characteristics such as socioeconomic status, geographic location, ethnicity and gender. Efficient policy avoids wastes to include wastage of energy, ideas, supplies and equipment. Effective policy provides the intervention based on scientific knowledge to the members of the population who can benefit (avoiding underuse) while shifting the intervention away from those who would not benefit (avoiding misuse). Timely policy reduces harmful delays and waits for the persons delivering the intervention and those receiving the intervention. Safe policy avoids the harms originating from interventions intended to help individuals (Loversidge & Zumehly, 2019).

Third, they are guided by social issues. Health care has typically been targeted at addressing existing concerns. Policies have helped in making great strides towards this direction by having an enormous impact at every stage of the health care process. However, the best results are achieved when the policies are guided by social issues in terms of being socially appropriate, sustainable and affordable. This requires careful and informed policies that take into account the local customs, capacity and health needs, as this is essential for harnessing the full potential of the policy and its applications for improved health (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2020).

It is my belief that while a realistic policy must take into account cost, quality and cost concerns, it must focus on maximizing benefits and minimizing harm/costs. In fact, they should be guided by the ethical principle of non-maleficence that implies not doing harm. Any action that would harm others, either through commission or omission must be avoided. In addition, policy should be guided by the principle of beneficence with a focus on ensuring that the intervention is in the best interest of the targeted individual. Every policy must be designed to bring about a positive, objective good. Besides that, policy should be guided by the principle of justice while speaking to fairness and equity. The benefits should be distributed equitably throughout the target population. Also, it must respect the principle of autonomy by allowing for personal freedom. This entails espousing great respect for individual rights. The law supports autonomy and upholds the individual right to make personal decisions (Helming, Shields & Avino, 2020). In respecting autonomy, the policy must be truthful in terms of its benefits and risks.

Analyze how factors such as your upbringing, spiritual or religious beliefs/doctrine, personal and professional experiences, and political ideology affect your current perspective on health care policy.

I was brought up as a Christian who regularly attends church, takes the time to read religious texts, and is careful to live by God’s commandments as presented in the Bible. My spiritual beliefs have been instrumental in guiding my perspective on health care policy by shifting me towards the humanitarian side. I tend to look more towards the benefits and harms, with less regard for the costs. I believe that no price is high enough to pay for life and good health, and that any financial losses made in saving a life act as an investment in future rewards from God.

Other than my spiritual beliefs, I am also guided by my personal and professional experiences. Having seek much of sickness in my personal and professional activities, I have become more sensitive to the need for preserve health and wellness. Rather than being desensitized by all that I have experienced, I have become more concerned in bringing a difference to the life of others. I make it a point to improve my life and the life of others around me either through passive or active efforts.

Besides that, I am also guided by my political ideology. I am of the opinion that being in public office implies serving the best interests of the public. This includes soliciting opinions and ensuring that every decision made reflects the best of the community.

Examine any inconsistencies you discovered relative to the alignment of your personal values and beliefs with those concerning health policy. Discuss what insights this has given you.

There are no inconsistencies in the alignment of my personal values and beliefs with those concerning health policy. At the core of this alignment is the awareness that benefits should be maximized and harm minimized. Every action undertaken must focus on doing good while respecting ethical principles. In addition, every decision made should consultative and follow a careful thought process that evaluates all the factors involved so that all potential harms are identified and avoided or minimized.

References

Helming, M., Shields, D., & Avino, K. (2020). Dossey & Keegan’s holistic nursing: a handbook for practice (8^th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC.

Loversidge, J. M., & Zurmehly, J. (2019). Evidence-informed health policy: using EBP to transform nursing and healthcare. Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing.

Milstead, J. & Short, N. (2019). Health policy and politics: a nurse’s guide (6^th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Stanhope, M., & Lancaster, J. (2020). Public health nursing: population-centered health care in the community. Elsevier, Inc.  Health Policy Values Discussion Paper