Directions:

In this Assignment, you will assume the role of a staff member to an elected official at either the state or federal level. This policy maker is a lawyer by education and has limited knowledge of health care. Select a health or nursing policy issue that relates to your DNP Project (Improving Discharge Practice in the Emergency Department to Prevent Return Visits). Using the Policy Issue Analysis Worksheet attached, you will prepare an analysis of the policy issue with discharge practices in the emergency department and approach the topic as an unbiased analyst. Based upon your analysis of the issue, you will make 2–3 action recommendations which are:

• Effective communication with individuals and across settings
• Alignment of services by providing resources to ensure continuity of care
• Efficient and clear discharge processes by providing test results, diagnosis, treatment and follow up care

for the elected official who will take recommendations onto the floor of the governing body and give a speech based upon your analysis. A minimum of six scholarly sources must be included.

Part I of Policy Issue Analysis Worksheet

1. State your name and what sphere of government you are operating in (you can select local, state Florida, or federal; house or senate Florida). Discuss potential bias.
2. Issue: Introduce an issue that relates to your DNP Project (rather than a problem) in terms of policy making, a problem rises to the level of an issue only if there is more than one option for a solution (e.g., everyone agrees that access to health care is a problems, but this is not specific enough. The policy issues is “How do we expand access to immunizations to ethnic and racial minorities in a more uniform way?)
3. Once you have an issue, what about the issue that makes this issue require a legislative solution (as opposed to an individual or private sector-solution)?
4. Context: Address various perspectives of the issue – social, economic, ethical, political, legal, environmental, and cultural.
5. Costs: Discuss economic and non-economic costs of the present situation. Discuss access and quality here if applicable.

Part II of Policy Issue Analysis Worksheet

1. Stakeholder Analysis; Identify all stakeholders, what are their positions on the issue? Are there any champions on either side of the dispute? You must identify both supporters and opponents even if you are able to say that no one opposes it. If there are numerous stakeholders, creating a table is wise.
2. Identify any health risks addressed by the policy issue. How will the policy impact these risks?
3. Specify any policy consequences, both intended and unintended.

Part III of Policy Issue Analysis Worksheet

1. State 2–3 policy options. These should be realistic, highly specific policy recommendations for action regarding the issue. These recommendations must be feasible (e.g., not we must adopt a single payer health care system!).
2. Rationale for Policy Recommendations
   1. Discuss economic and non-economic savings/losses of your recommendations.
   2. Evidence that proposed solution will make a difference.
   3. What will happen if government does not intervene, the problem goes unaddressed?
   4. What is anticipated from the opposing stakeholder groups?
   5. Ease of implementation and a timeline for implementation.
   6. Enforceability of the recommendations. Consider who would monitor for compliance and the costs of monitoring.
3. References annotated with a brief description of any political bias within each reference or source. Step outside your comfort zone and use references that politicians use. You may want to contact stakeholders, call government offices to get unpublished information that will make your analysis shine.

Attached is the DNP project issue, also here some references https://emj.bmj.com/content/17/2/86

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK259995/