NR586NP week 7 response to peer /faculty

please respond to each post in 300 words or less in single line spacing 

week 7 question 

Preparing the Discussion

Follow these guidelines when completing each component of the discussion. Contact your course faculty if you have questions.

General Instructions:

Select one health policy that addresses a population’s health risk or disparity. Policies may be considered at the unit, organizational, community, local, or state level.

Determine the purpose and intended impact of the policy. Assess the congruence of the policy with current national population health goals and objectives (such as the Healthy People initiative or another national initiative). Consider recommendations to further address the health risk or disparity based on your analysis.

Include the following sections:

1. Application of Course Knowledge: Answer all questions/criteria with explanations and detail.

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  • Describe one health policy related to an identified health risk or disparity.
  • Summarize the intended impact of the policy on the risk or disparity.
  • Examine the policy within the context of a national population health initiative and determine the degree to which the policy is congruent with that national population health goal and/or objective.
  • Propose one strategy to address the health risk or disparity.

1. Integration of Evidence: Integrate relevant scholarly sources as defined by program expectations:

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  • Cite a scholarly source in the initial post.
  • Cite a scholarly source in one faculty response post.
  • Cite a scholarly source in one peer post.
  • Accurately analyze, synthesize, and/or apply principles from evidence with no more than one short quote (15 words or less) for the week.
  • Include a minimum of two different scholarly sources per week. Cite all references and provide references for all citations.

1. Engagement in Meaningful Dialogue: Engage peers and faculty by asking questions and offering new insights, applications, perspectives, information, or implications for practice.

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  • Peer Response: Respond to at least one peer.
  • Faculty Response: Respond to at least one faculty post.
  • Communicate using respectful, collegial language and terminology appropriate to advanced nursing practice.

1. Professionalism in Communication: Communicate with minimal errors in English grammar, spelling, syntax, and punctuation.
2. Reference Citation: Use current APA format to format citations and references free of errors

faculty dr Jones post 

Students,

A few years ago, I went on a medical mission trip to the Dominican Republic. One of the sponsoring group’s goals was to promote access to water in neighborhoods where it was scarce.  Water stations were set up in residential areas so people in need could stop and pick up a free jug of potable water. The mini-filtration stations were designed to be sustainable over time even after the mission team left the country. We hear about contaminated drinking water in other countries but not so much in the United States, although it is happening more and more. Access to clean drinking water is essential for maintaining the health and wellbeing of populations. Please describe at least one health policy related to the provision of safe drinking water specific to your community then provide a few examples of ways in which advanced practice nurses can advocate on behalf of vulnerable populations on this topic.

Dr. Jones

 peer post /nicole 

A policy related to a health risk and intended to improve access is the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA). This policy requires many health insurance plans to provide mental health and substance use disorder benefits at a level comparable to medical and surgical benefits. The intended impact is to reduce financial barriers and improve access to necessary mental health services.

The policy aligns closely with Healthy People 2030, which includes an objective to increase the proportion of adults with serious mental illness who receive treatment. Healthy People 2030 reports that 71.1% of adults with serious mental illness received treatment in 2023, compared with its target of 71.3% (Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion [ODPHP], n.d.). However, insurance coverage alone does not eliminate disparities. Fung et al. (2023) found that although mental health cost sharing parity improved some measures of mental health and substance use treatment, racial and ethnic minorities and older adult Medicare beneficiaries experienced smaller or no improvements compared with White Americans. This suggests that parity policies are congruent with national population health goals but additional interventions are needed to achieve equitable access to care. One strategy to further address this disparity is to integrate routine mental health screening and treatment into primary care. Nurse practitioners can screen patients for conditions such as depression and anxiety, initiate appropriate treatment, and provide referrals to behavioral health specialists when necessary. Integrating mental health services into primary care may help identify patients earlier and reduce barriers associated with accessing separate mental health services.

Reference

Fung, V., Price, M., McDowell, A., Nierenberg, A. A., Hsu, J., Newhouse, J. P., & Cook, B. L. (2023). Coverage Parity And Racial And Ethnic Disparities In Mental Health And Substance Use Care Among Medicare Beneficiaries. Health affairs (Project Hope), 42(1), 83–93. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2022.00624

Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (n.d.). Increase the proportion of adults with serious mental illness who get treatment—MHMD-04. Healthy People 2030, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy People 2030