Panel Deliberates Ways Nurses Contribute Significantly to Health Care
| March 16, 2018 | Nurses have a unique perspective on health and health care, said Diana J. Mason, Ph.D., R.N., and one that can benefit communities and advance health in Arkansas.
Mason, senior policy service professor and co-director of the George Washington School of Nursing’s Center for Health Policy and Media Engagement in Washington, D.C., shared her thoughts during a panel discussion with UAMS and state leaders and state media members March 8. The panel was part of the Claudia Beverly Lectureship in Nursing Leadership, of which Mason was the featured speaker.
The panel debated and considered ways to assure the contributions of more nurses were heard during health care decisions and deliberations.
Mason said a recent study commissioned by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has helped shift national attitudes toward nurses for the better, but there is still much work to be done. One of those areas of work regards nurse practitioners, said Mason.
Cindy Gillespie spoke on the unique challenges Arkansas faces and issues it can address to improve its health care standing. Gillespie is the director of the Arkansas Department of Human Services.
“Evidence shows that advanced nurse practitioners (APNs) reduce health care costs, reduce admissions and readmissions, and reduce emergency room admissions,” she said. “Nurses are a resource for Arkansas and they should be practicing to the full extent of their educational training, as every health professional should be.”
Cindy Gillespie, director of the Arkansas Department of Human Services, said APNs and telemedicine would be two of the issues addressed at the General Assembly of the Arkansas legislature in 2019.
Skip Rutherford, dean of the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, said those two issues are vital to Arkansas addressing its poor health rankings, adding that nurses are underrated for the personal care they provide patients.
“Arkansas is at or near the bottom in terms of providers per resident and access to health care,” said Rutherford. “If we’re going to move the needle in Arkansas, it has to be done by figuring out a way to provide access to people who need it.”
Roby Brock, CEO of Natural State Media and host and executive producer of Talk Business & Politics, called for nurses to utilize its numbers in the state to influence change.
“Nurses have numbers and numbers matter when you’re trying to influence public policy, particularly at the state capitol,” said Brock. “For that change in public policy, there has to be a mobilization. I’m not saying nurses don’t already do that, but they have to find a way to flex that muscle more.”
Claudia Beverly, Ph.D., R.N., has been a leader in geriatric nursing for decades. Her lectureship is aimed at keeping issues related to nursing and leadership at the forefront of conversation.
Claudia Beverly, Ph.D., R.N., director of the Hartford Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence at UAMS, championed certain telemedicine advancements made at UAMS, such as ANGEL Eye, and the need for more progress in the field.
The panel discussed the role of the media in increasing utilization of nurses. Mason said there is work to be done on all sides to make sure that happens. Steve Barnes, host of AETN’s Arkansas Week, said there was a societal bias that needed to be overcome.
Rex Nelson, senior editor at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, said he didn’t believe that sort of bias would not be encountered at the paper he worked for, suggesting its reporters would be more concerned with completing their stories and meeting deadlines.
Ensuring the next generation of health care providers understand the need and value to work across health professions, including with nurses, is one of the main reasons UAMS has focused much attention to interprofessional education (IPE) curriculums, said interim UAMS Chancellor Stephanie Gardner, Pharm.D.,Ed.D.
“It’s more important than ever that we train students to work as members of a health care team, as well as understand the social determinates of health and the impact it has on overall health,” said Gardner. “Nurses understand that better than probably any member of the team because they are closer to the patient in many situations.”
Interim UAMS Chancellor Stephanie Gardner, Pharm.D., Ed.D., said UAMS’s interprofessional education curriculum was central to having future health care professionals in Arkansas work well together, understand each other’s roles and provide better patient care.
Patricia Cowan, Ph.D., R.N., dean of the UAMS College of Nursing, said she’s seen an openness to having nurses in roles that influence health care decisions in her time at UAMS.
“There’s a greater interest in having nurses at the table to talk about ways we can collaborate to make changes in the health care arena,” said Cowan.
Following the hour-long panel, Mason addressed UAMS nurses and discussed how policy initiatives and the media can be used to promote health of individuals, families and communities. Attendees were able to pose questions to Mason following her presentation.
Central to Mason’s presentation was the idea American health care discussions and policies needed to shift from a focus on acute care and recovery and long-term care to a strong foundation of public health and wellness promotion buoyed by a strong primary care system.
“If we had a more robust public health system, we could prevent many of the problems that are occurring and require an acute care system,” said Mason. “Studies repeatedly show the U.S. has the highest health care spending of any nation and the poorest health outcomes and performances.”
Mason is professor emerita at City University of New York’s Hunter College where she was the inaugural Rudin Professor of Nursing and co-founder and co-director of the Center for Health, Media, and Policy until 2016. She’s the past president of the American Academy of Nursing, former editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Nursing.
She has co-produced and hosted a community radio program on health care issues since 1985. Mason was the lead-editor of Policy and Politics in Nursing and Health, an award-winning book. She has authored more than 200 publications.