Three things an advanced practice nurse can do to lessen the societal effects on less fortunate women are to build a trusting relationship with the patients, refer the patients to local support services, and keep in touch with the patients and the facilities by acting as a reliable resource person through the process. Patients who have a good relationship with the advanced practice nurses will listen to their advice about their health, but they will also listen to their advice about anything else in their lives, like where they live. There are a lot of support groups and organizations for women in the community, as well as housing advocacy groups and job-hunting groups outside of the healthcare system. An advanced practice nurse can help connect patients with these groups and organizations. Providers can also help individual patients by making sure that the right paperwork is sent to the organizations, writing letters on behalf of the patient, and helping the patients get the programs or benefits that they are eligible for, among other things.
Policies contribute significantly to the marginalization of women and childbearing families by strengthening several facets of the healthcare system to assist this demographic. Access to health care is critical for women who not only need maternity care but also planned parenthood and other reproductive health care services. Additionally, policies may assist in allocating additional money to programs that educate and attract healthcare staff to serve underserved regions. Legislators should promote grant funding for not only health literacy and education but also training so that vital programs for healthcare professional education and training may continue and flourish. (Prodan‐Bhalla & Browne, 2019). Policymakers and public organizations should collaborate to provide chances for substantial reforms to the present healthcare system and traditional practices that boost health provider literacy among women and childbearing families that are underserved.
A policy that affects disadvantaged populations at the federal level is the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of preventative coverage for women’s well-being. The Act is a piece of health insurance reform regulation that Congress enacted and signed into law by President Obama in 2010 (Health Resources and Services Administration, 2019). The Cheap Care Act makes preventive care affordable and accessible to all Americans by mandating health insurance to include preventive treatments and by lowering the cost of such services via cost-sharing reductions (Health Resources and Services Administration, 2019). This act enables women to get preventative health care services like mammograms, cervical cancer screenings, prenatal care, and other treatments without having to pay for them.
This policy may have a beneficial effect on disadvantaged communities. This Act contributes to increasing women’s health insurance coverage, lowering their health care expenses, and putting a stop to the worst insurance industry abuses directed at them. This legislation was enacted to guarantee that women have access to preventative and critical treatments by prohibiting health insurance firms from discriminating based on gender and by increasing the availability and affordability of health insurance for women and their families (Snyder, 2018). Occasionally, policies and regulations are sufficient to effect significant societal change. Most of the time, the root of the problem is the persistence of societal and cultural beliefs that establish power and disadvantage relations between diverse community groups that are founded on things like gender, age, or even ethnicity.
References
Health Resources and Services Administration. (2019). Women’s preventive services guidelines. Web.
Prodan‐Bhalla, N., & Browne, A. J. (2019). Exploring women’s health care experiences through an equity lens: Findings from a community clinic serving marginalized women. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 28(19-20), 3459-3469.
Snyder, A. H., Weisman, C. S., Liu, G., Leslie, D., & Chuang, C. H. (2018). The impact of the Affordable Care Act on contraceptive use and costs among privately insured women. Women’s Health Issues, 28(3), 219-223.