Bill Identification and Summary
The coronavirus pandemic in 2020 has become a challenge for many countries and a test of the strength of their health systems. Among the threats to national security in the sphere of citizens’ health, the risks of complications of the epidemiological situation against the background of the unfavorable situation in foreign countries for a number of dangerous infectious diseases and the likelihood of new infections caused by unknown pathogens were identified. Consequently, the state must be prepared for the risk of any emergencies, including epidemics, for which S. 3799: Prevent Pandemics Act was adopted.
According to it, measures for the non-specific prevention of coronavirus infection come out in the first place, and, first of all, these are regime-restrictive measures and self-isolation. Non-specific prevention is an activity aimed at preventing the spread of infection (Murray, 2022). It is carried out in relation to the source of infection (a sick person), the mechanism of transmission of the causative agent of infection, as well as a potentially susceptible contingent (protection of persons who are and /or have been in contact with a sick person).
Impact of Bill on Nursing Practice Standard
If the bill passes
If the bill passes, it will affect all 17 ANA Scope standards, including assessment. In the presence of factors indicating a case suspected of a coronavirus infection caused by a new disease, nurses will need to conduct a complex clinical examination, regardless of the type of medical care, to determine the severity of the condition. The diagnosis will be established on the basis of a clinical examination, epidemiological anamnesis data, and laboratory results.
The Nursing practice standard will include a detailed preliminary assessment of all complaints, medical history, and epidemiological history for the presence of new diseases. When collecting an epidemiological history, first of all, the presence of trips will be established 14 days before the first symptoms (Murray, 2022). In addition, nurses will also be required to establish close contact over the past 14 days with persons suspected of being infected with a new disease or persons whose diagnosis has been confirmed laboratory.
If the bill does not pass
If the bill does not pass, the Assessment ANA Scope standard will not be changed. Since quarantine measures were lifted after the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, there will be a return to the previously existing nursing practice standards. Patients with a mild form of a new disease may not be detected when contacting a primary healthcare facility or when calling a team or an ambulance doctor (Shi, 2013). If it is necessary to be medically evacuated by an ambulance team during hospitalization or referral of a patient for diagnostic studies, rapid preliminary testing for a new disease will not be a prerequisite.
Nurses at an assessment will not be provided with disposable personal protective equipment for the upper respiratory tract (mask), gloves, and disposable bathrobes but will use reusable ones. When assessing patients with a suspected course of a new disease in a mild form, there will be no provision for dividing the flow with somatic patients by time. The entrance of such patients will not be made through the zone of infectious patients.
Impact of Bill on Own Nursing Practice
If the bill passes
If the bill had been approved, the organization of work in my nursing practice would have changed in the conditions of admission of a patient with a suspected disease that poses a danger to others. It would be necessary to change the usual procedure when conducting diagnostic, preventive, and anti-epidemic measures. It would be necessary to show increased care in case of detection and admission of a patient with a suspected disease that poses a danger to others. There would be a need to increase the level of theoretical training on issues related to the provision of medical care to patients with a suspected disease that poses a danger to others (Murray, 2022). This would entail the adaptation of existing technological standards, which would significantly reduce the number of errors and inconsistencies, improving the quality of medical services provided to patients with a disease that poses a danger to others.
If the bill does not pass
If the bill is not passed, then the types of medical care and the technologies used in their provision will return to pre-Covid standards. The medical care carried out with the help of specialized organizations of final disinfection will be resumed. Strict laboratory control of the sanitary and hygienic conditions of medical organizations for compliance with the requirements of new standards will be abolished. The organization of admission of patients will be carried out without compliance with social distancing measures and laboratory examination of hospitalized patients. Regular examinations of personnel for the carrier of the new virus will be canceled. There will be no need to carry out the maximum number of medical procedures and nutrition of patients in the wards (Shi, 2013). Nursing practice will not include the specifics of retraining medical workers and creating their reserves. The procedure for issuing electronic sick leaves and prescriptions will be simplified.
Communication Strategies
Based on nursing practice
I might communicate my support for the bill to peers and legislators based on nursing practice. This can be done by speaking at conferences dedicated to nursing research (“Integrity matters,” 2019). Systematically carrying out the process of studying clinical and managerial problems in nursing practice caused by the pandemic, I can make predictions about the positive impact of the approval of this bill on their resolution. In the course of such speeches, I will demonstrate to peers and legislators that S. 3799: Prevent Pandemics Act will make nursing practice more effective in improving patient care and resolving problematic situations caused by new epidemics. In order for this point of view to sound convincing to all stakeholders, information from various scientific sources will be used in the presentation, and general methodological and innovative research methods of work will be applied.
Based on nursing standards
I might communicate my support for this bill to peers and legislators based on nursing standards. This can also be done in the process of communication in professional medical forums. During network communication in messengers, social networks, blogs, forums, video conferences, and e-mail with colleagues, the positive impact of that S. 3799: Prevent Pandemics Act on nursing standards can be emphasized. At the same time, one should be open to both positive and negative opinions regarding the adoption of the law (“Integrity matters,” 2019). Peer feedback on the forums will be emotionally embellished, but it will allow us to see the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments. An advantageous solution would be to provide the opportunity to leave anonymous feedback so that it would be easier for colleagues to express their thoughts (“Integrity matters,” 2019). Thus, it is possible to give a reasoned opinion on the impact of S. 3799: Prevent Pandemics Act on nursing standards, responding to what other medical staff is concerned about.
Based on patient outcome
I might communicate my support for this bill to peers and legislators based on patient outcomes. It is possible to collect patient outcome data from a local hospital to predict the impact of the adoption of S. 3799: Prevent Pandemics Act. To do this, it is necessary to establish target indicators of the activities of medical and preventive institutions and organize the collection of reporting data on planned indicators. Implementation of a system for collecting and processing statistics of medical institutions in favor of the beneficial effects of S. 3799: Prevent Pandemics Act on the patient outcome can be built on the basis of the International Standard of Electronic Medical Records (ISO) (Shi, 2013). Next, modeling of therapeutic business processes should be carried out to identify the impact of the planned actions on the number of recovered patients.
Based on the ISO reference model, an information system architecture can be developed to automate the process of collecting statistical indicators. The formation of planned indicators for the organization of their collection from the information systems of medical institutions is necessary for the calculation of target performance indicators. Based on the analysis of medical statistics data, reporting should be further formulated as evidence of the positive impact of S. 3799: Prevent Pandemics Act on patient outcomes.
Community Impact of the Bill
The adoption of the bill will have a positive impact on the community in the long term, as it will mitigate the consequences in case of a new pandemic. If the number of deaths starts to increase in the community, it will be a signal that a new variant of the virus has appeared (Shi, 2013). Since there is a real threat of such a development of events, it is necessary to introduce restrictions provided for by S. 3799: Prevent Pandemics Act, for example, to return to mass testing. Thus, it will be possible to prevent a new source of infection and slow down the spread of the new virus among the residents of the community.
References
Integrity matters: Promoting academic integrity. (2019).
Murray, P. (2022). S. 3799: Prevent pandemics act.
Shi, L. (2013). Introduction to health policy. Health Administration Press.