Introduction
It is hard to disagree that the healthcare sector plays an integral and vital role in the lives of people on a daily basis. Some persons may find it challenging to understand how healthcare and policymaking can be connected. However, precisely the latter allows medics to introduce new and more effective measures to promote health education, enhance their care for patients, get access to better resources and training, and make sure that guidelines are followed. Without efficient policies and agenda items, it is impossible to reduce levels of diseases and improve healthcare outcomes. Thus, one of the issues that are of special concern in today’s world is cancer (National Cancer Institute, 2020). Public health education and means of this condition’s prevention should be disseminated by nurses, which is why the Oncology Nursing Society’s agenda item related to cancer prevention is of vital importance.
Significance of the Selected Policy
As mentioned above, cancer is one of the primary and most dangerous concerns of today’s nurses and patients. This is one reason why the selected agenda item is of increased value and interest (National Institutes of Health, 2021). If it appears to be successful, one may expect that the cancer rates will decrease drastically. In other words, people will become healthier because they will have proper access to various processes required to prevent, diagnose, and treat cancer, as well as get more educated about this condition (Oncology Nursing Society, 2021). Overall, one may state that there are no reasons to find this policy unpromising or not valuable enough. If there is a need to improve cancer outcomes and reduce the incidence of various types of cancer, especially lung cancer, this agenda item is needed.
Analysis of the Issue
To begin with, as stated by researchers, cancer is one of the leading causes of death. The statistics are quite disturbing: “in 2018, there were 18.1 million new cases and 9.5 million cancer-related deaths worldwide,” and these numbers are expected to grow to 29.5 million and 16.4 million by 2040, respectively (National Cancer Institute, 2020, para. 16). People cannot get adequate access to detection, prevention, and treatment programs due to the lack of funding or barriers created by social determinants of health (Trasta, 2018). Consequently, the problem needs to be examined, so the further paragraphs are dedicated to the issue’s history, those people it affects, and how the agenda item can be helpful.
The History of the Issue
When discussing the history of the identified problem, the focus should be placed on the limited access to education and resources that would help reduce rates of cancer worldwide. Those efforts that organizations and authorities put into eliminating healthcare barriers, educating nurses and patients better, and controlling e-cigarette and electronic nicotine delivery systems prevention more effectively are not enough. For example, “governments, industry, and philanthropies have been investing massively into research <…> to develop new diagnostics, therapies, and preventive measures” (Trasta, 2018, para. 3). However, it is not clear whether an appropriate part of fundings goes to studying and addressing cancer.
In addition, one may say that resources are not usually allocated equally within major disease research. Thus, “some types of cancer appear to be relatively over‐ or underfunded,” and many people find it challenging to receive adequate diagnosis and treatments (Trasta, 2018, para. 5). For instance, although lung cancer kills more patients than breast cancer, governments spend much more money on the latter (Trasta, 2018). Thus, even though current efforts are more serious and efficient, more attention should be paid to increasing federal funding for cancer programs, ensuring barrier-free cessation insurance coverage, and eliminating social determinants of health.
Persons and Groups Affected by the Issue
Overall, it is possible to say that a vast number of people are impacted by the identified issue. First of all, they are patients themselves, including those who are aware of their diagnosis and those who are at risk of developing cancer, such as smokers. Their friends and families are another group affected by the negative features of the problem. Third, nurses and other medical workers do not have access to adequate resources for the “screening, education, early detection, and prevention” of this disease (Oncology Nursing Society, 2021, p. 1). It means that they also experience the impact of the problem addressed by the policy. Finally, the authorities can also feel the effects of the increasing cancer rates because these growing levels put pressure on the government, requiring them to re-allocate their resources and send more funding to solve the issue.
Expected Effects of the Policy on Nurses and the Particular Nurses’ Association
It is possible to state that the selected agenda item will have numerous positive impacts on nurses in general and the Oncology Nursing Society. The first such effect is the enhanced working conditions of nurses as they will receive increased federal funding. As a result, there will be better access to CDC’s programs related to cancer prevention, early detection, education, and screening, as this is the first point of the policy (Oncology Nursing Society, 2021). Further, “availability and utilization of treatment services for smoking cessation” will be ensured, again affecting nurses’ work (Oncology Nursing Society, 2021, p. 1). Finally, medical workers will receive an opportunity to participate in the elimination of the negative impacts that social determinants of health have on accessing “advances in cancer prevention and early detection services” (Oncology Nursing Society, 2021, p. 1). Overall, the effects the selected society and nurses in general will experience are all related to their enhanced working conditions and opportunities to help society.
Key Stakeholders
Generally, one may agree that the key stakeholders of the identified problem are the persons affected by it. As a result, this presentation may be interesting to cancer patients and their families and friends because it is essential for them to learn that some practical efforts will be made to solve the issue (Stover et al., 2021). Further, representatives of the government can also attend the meeting to learn about the increasing need to enhance the control over e-cigarette and electronic nicotine delivery systems prevention (Stover et al., 2021). Third, smoking persons may find the data and facts outlined in the presentation to be quite informative. Finally, as mentioned in the previous paragraph, nurses and other medical workers should also learn about the agenda item’s ideas to be more aware of the measures to address cancer prevalence.
Conclusion
To draw a conclusion, one may say that the value and necessity of the selected agenda item cannot be overestimated. Considering the severity of cancer and the lack of appropriate measures to address the growing rates of cancer mortality and morbidity, the ideas proposed in the Oncology Nursing Society’s policy may help reduce many negative effects. Numerous people are impacted by cancer-related problems, including nurses, patients, the community as a whole, and authorities. Consequently, all these groups are also the key stakeholders who should be interested in and support the proposed agenda item.
References
National Cancer Institute. (2020). Cancer statistics. NIH. Web.
National Institutes of Health. (2021). Annual report to the nation part 2: Patient economic burden of cancer care more than $21 billion in the United States in 2019. NIH. Web.
Oncology Nursing Society. (2021). Health policy agenda [PDF document]. Web.
Stover, A. M., Kurtzman, R., Walker Bissram, J., Jansen, J., Carr, P., Atkinson, T., Ellis, C. T., Freeman, A. T., Turner, K., & Basch, E. M. (2021). Stakeholder Perceptions of Key Aspects of high-quality cancer care to assess with patient reported outcome measures: A systematic review. Cancers, 13(14), 3628. Web.
Trasta, A. (2018). Where does public funding for cancer research go: Allocation of research funding for cancer and COPD is not always proportional to disease burden. EMBO Reports, 19(3), e45859. Web.