Example Of Legislative Visit: Bio-Terror Attack Preparedness Essay

Introduction

Bio-terror attacks pose a significant threat to the American society mainly due to the nature of such attacks. Most bio-terror weapons are specifically designed to attack masses and the military can do little on the battlefield to deter them once they have been used to attack people (Maryland & Gonzalez, 2012). In most, if not all, bio-terror attacks, health practitioners and more so nurses face a huge task of administering care to victims. Despite the risks faced by nurses and victims, America as a nation is yet to implement a comprehensive bio-terror attacks policy that would ensure the country’s preparedness in case of an occurrence of this type of attacks (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2014). As nurses therefore, we are requesting the legislature to keenly look into the possibility of adopting a bio-terror attack policy that would ensure that this country is not only adequately prepared to manage bio-terror attacks, but also in a position to do so at minimum costs.

Legislative Visit

As an important component of the American healthcare system, nurses acknowledge the significance of the country been adequately prepared to manage disasters. While there are comprehensive policies that address the management of most disasters, the same cannot be said of bio-terror attacks (Maryland & Gonzalez, 2012).With the ability to spread fast enough to cause irreversible implications to our country, bio-terror attacks preparedness should be accorded more attention than there is currently. Having noted this gap in the American healthcare policies, I decided to make a phone call to Mr. X in an attempt to lobby for the importance of being prepared for bi-terror attacks. I requested if I could hold a phone interview with him over the issue to which he accepted (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2014).
My main message during the phone interview revolved around the significance of adopting a health policy that would comprehensively provide health facilities across the nation with the necessary skills and equipment to manage incidences of bio-terror attacks (Lowery et al., 2013). Factoring in that terrorists are constantly changing their attack tactics, there is a need to protect the public not only by deterring such attacks, but also ensuring the country’s health facilities can handle an influx of victims that would result from a bio-terror attack. Throughout the interview, I applied my expertise in nursing to present a convincing case that was backed up with evidence from the current situation of our health facilities. My aim was to prove that currently, our health facilities lack the capacity to effectively administer care to bio-terror attacks victims (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2014).
I also used the interview to present the most critical issues that would be addressed in this policy before being enacted. Lack of enough equipment and space to accommodate and administer care to bio-terror attack victims is probably the biggest challenge facing most health facilities across the country (Lowery et al., 2013). Therefore, the policy would need to indicate how funding will be obtained to ensure that hospitals are can serve large populations at the same time and that the average time taken by patients in emergency rooms is significantly reduced. Further to this, the policy should look into the possibility of major city hospitals serving as referrals for rural hospitals during incidences resulting from bio-terror attacks (Maryland & Gonzalez, 2012).
Another pertinent issue that was addressed during the interview is the safety of nurses and other health practitioners during bio-terror attack response. With evidence indicating that some nurses would be reluctant to report to work in the wake of a major bio-terror attack, it is important that the policy addresses the reasons that would lead to a situation where health workers are not ready to provide their services during bio-terror attacks (Cagliuso, 2014). Most nurses have pointed to their safety as the main cause why they would not report to work. Considering this, the policy would need to clearly indicate how the safety of health practitioners involved in bio-terror attack responses will be ensured (Maryland & Gonzalez, 2012).
A number of considerations were equally made during the interview. A close working relationship between all health organizations in the US would also need to be established. For instance, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention needs to provide timely and reliable information to health facilities to facilitate the preparedness of these facilities. Further to this, communication would need to significantly improve for the policy to succeed (Cagliuso, 2014). This is more so considering the poor communication evidenced during the recent Ebola outbreak in Dallas, Texas.
The lawmaker responded to my presentation in a manner that suggested his agreement that the country needs a comprehensive bio-terror attack response policy. However, he noted a number of issues that might slow the pace of adoption of such a policy, key among them being the source of funds used to better equip hospitals (Lowery et al., 2013). Equally, the lawmaker noted the overall financial cost of implementing such a policy would have a significant implication both on the federal government budget and the local governments’ budgets. After the interview, I plan to make another legislative visit that will involve a panel of lawmakers. Through this visit, the policy will be discussed by a panel and the feedback provided used to make adjustments to it (Maryland & Gonzalez, 2012).
The approach taken in the above legislative visit is supported by a number of publications made in the field of nursing. According to (Anderson & Olayiwola, 2012), modern nurses have a role of going beyond the professional expectations bestowed upon them and taking part in less familiar areas that have an impact on public health. The authors note that while a legislative visit involving an interview with a law maker may be involving due to the limited time many political leaders have for such interviews, nurses should seize every opportunity that presents to table their view of a specific health policy. This proposition supports the approach taken in the above legislative visit by acknowledging the significance of political lobbying by nurses as a means of improving the current healthcare policies (Maryland & Gonzalez, 2012)
According to (Lowery et al., 2013), nurses have a responsibility to utilize their first-hand experience of the current health system to influence necessary changes that can translate to better health outcomes. In addition to this, the authors note that nurses are well respected in most societies and can therefore use this respect to lobby for the implementation of important health policies (Maryland & Gonzalez, 2012). During the visit, facts should be presented in an understandable language that promotes cooperation. This ensures that the political leader approached does not switch off during presentation due to the complexity of language used or the random presentation of facts. The authors’ argument further supports the approach taken by the above legislative visit where a credible research was conducted prior to the visit. During the research, information was collected and analyzed. Further to this, information was chronologically presented during the interview ensuring that the law maker could easily relate concepts that were tabled (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2014).
A successful visit and follow-up prevents several benefits to nursing as a practice. One of the most significance benefits is probably the increased possibility of a given health policy being adopted. Adoption of efficient health policies in turn result to better care for patients and improved health outcomes (Lowery et al., 2013). Another benefit of a successful visit and follow-up to nursing is that it provides more awareness of the significance of a health issue even when the proposed health policy does not go through. Although not all policies presented in legislative visits go through, the process itself provides an opportunity for creating awareness over the existence of a health policy gap (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2014).

Conclusion

Conclusively, the above legislative visit provided me with crucial insight about the political and policy making processes in America and how nurses can navigate the demanding nature of these processes. I noted that the policy making process in the US is very involving and it calls for support not only from the political arena, but also from senior staff in the health sector as well as the general public. The visit further provided the possibility for future opportunities as it made me better understand the magnitude of the gap in emergency preparedness policies. Overall, the experience was important to me as a nursing student as it served as part of my preparation for future nursing responsibilities. Equally, it provided an opportunity for me to engage with other professions different from the nursing profession but important to the nursing practice.

References

Anderson, D. & Olayiwola, J. (2012). Community health centers and the patient-centered medical home: Challenges and opportunities to reduce health care disparities in America. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 23(3), 949-57.
Cagliuso, N. (2014). Stakeholders' experiences with US hospital emergency preparedness: Part 1. Journal of Business Continuity & Emergency Planning, 8(2), 156-168.
Lowery, D., Gray, V., Wolak, J., Godwin, E. & Kilburn, W. (2013). Reconsidering the counter- mobilization hypothesis: Health policy lobbying in the American States. Political Behavior, 27(2), 99-132.
Maryland, M. & Gonzalez, R. (2012). Patient Advocacy in the Community and the Legislative Arena. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 17(1), Manuscript 2.
Stanhope, M., & Lancaster, J. (2014). Public health nursing: Population-centered health care in the community. Maryland Heights, Missouri: Elsevier Mosby.