How a Bill Becomes a Law
As you have discovered through this course, nurses are influential members of the community and the political system. Therefore, for the purposes of this assignment you will identify a problem or concern in your community, organization, etc. that has the capacity to be legislated. You will conduct research and state a proposal. Through the legislative process, your proposal for the problem or concern may influence an idea for change into a law.
Submit the assignment to the instructor. You also reserve the right to submit your completed proposal to the respective government official. However, this is optional. If you select to submit your proposal as a part of the legislative process, refer to "Find Your Representative" or research the contact information on your own. APA format is not required, but solid academic writing is expected. If you submit a paper instead of the form you will not receive a grade for it.
Legislative Worksheet (SBAR Format) – How a Bill Becomes a Law
SITUATION: IS THIS SOMETHING THAN CAN BE LEGISLATED?
• Identify the problem/concern:
• State your proposal/idea.
BACKGROUND: DO YOUR RESEARCH
• Include studies, reports, personal experience, or anecdotal stories related to your proposal.
• Has there been similar legislation introduced and/or passed in other states? If so, include it.
ASSESSMENT: FINANCES AND STAKEHOLDERS
• Identify financial impact if any (e.g., added costs, cost savings, increased revenue):
• Identify stakeholder groups that would support this bill:
• Identify people/groups that would oppose this bill:
RECOMMENDATION
• Make an appointment with your legislator to discuss your proposal.
Legislative Worksheet (Sbar Format) – How A Bill Becomes a Law
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Legislative Worksheet (Sbar Format) – How A Bill Becomes a Law
Problem/Concern
Nurses play a critical role in healthcare system. However, in the course of their work, they might be endangered together with the patients they attend. A good balance between the number of nurses and patients being attended to is important for the quality of service patients will get and the retention of the nurses (Needleman et al., 2011). Inadequate staffing may drive nurses away from their profession and put patients in danger. With the continued growth of population, demand for health care services will continue to be on the rise. Therefore, safe-staffing ratio will present the greatest concern.
Proposal/Idea
The proposal is to enact “safe-staffing act” to ensure quality healthcare. The act will require nursing homes and acute care facilities to implement a certain level of nurse to patient ratio in every nursing unit. The facilities would be required to have minimum staffing requirement. Moreover, they would be required to have a staffing plan in all units that is supposed to be reviewed annually. Additionally, the facilities would be required to maintain staffing records during every shift; nurses would have a right to refuse assignments beyond their levels of abilities.
Safe-Staffing Background
Health service researchers have been working to establish relationship between staffing of nurses and quality of healthcare. It took a long time for researchers to appreciate the value and importance of nurse staffing in improving the quality of healthcare. Initial research underplayed the importance of nurse staffing and led to conclusions that it was not important in improving the quality of health care (Clarke & Donaldson, 2008). The drive towards improving the quality of health care led to doing more research on the role of nurse staffing.
As hospitals embarked on cost cutting to reduce costs, nurses were normally the first casualties. It was ...