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Health Policy and Kansas

Mary Egger
The University of Saint Mary
NU 705 Health Care Policy & Ethics
April 4, 2021
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Health Policy and Kansas

Health policy helps shape the world of healthcare by establishing guidelines for nurses to

follow. The implementation of policy into nursing practice allows a nurse to become an advocate

for change. The once-great matriarch of nursing, Florence Nightingale, defined the art of nursing

(de Assunção Ferreira et al., 2020). The art of caring for others is an ethical balance of

compassion and policy. Its leaders and nursing organizations define nursing. Through the Kansas

Hospital Association, Kansas hospitals and nurses have influenced the state’s policymakers.

The Kansas Hospital Association contains a plethora of resources for nurse advocacy.

Their website contains various links to critical issues such as access to care, economic impact,

hospital preparedness, and quality and patient safety. The hospitals that participate in the Kansas

Hospital Association are required to implement a policy that standardizes wristband color for

specific meanings. A policy is defined as an action that resembles the intentions of decisions

made by society, government, or organizations (Annesley, 2019). This color-coded wristband

standardization streamlines the identification of specific meanings when looking at a patient

(Kansas Hospital Association). A yellow wristband indicates patients identified as a fall risk, red

wristbands mean the patient has an allergy, and purple signifies the patient wishes to not be

resuscitated (Kansas Hospital Association). This policy impacts all patients within the state of

Kansas who fall under the Kansas Hospital Association. This specific policy is part of a

nationwide campaign to standardize the color-coded wrist bands; therefore, this policy impacts

many patients. Nurses are responsible for providing patients with wristbands so that the entire

care team can easily identify them.

The Kansas Hospital Association is both a leader and collaborator. The organization

provides resources on their website for education, lists Kansas representatives and contact
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information, various ways to advocate, and up-to-date policies. This information provides nurses

and hospitals with a guide to provide care and topics to advocate for. Policymakers consider

medical and scientific research while creating health policies (McGinty et al., 2019). The Kansas

Hospital Association provides resources on critical issues that need governmental attention, such

as rural health access. The nursing profession's responsibility is to communicate and share values

with the public (American Nurses Association [ANA], 2015). Along with nurses expressing the

profession’s values, nurse organizations are encouraged to promote health and wellness (ANA,

2015). The Nursing Code of Ethics aligns nursing standards to compassionate care. The Kansas

Hospital Association’s resources for nurses and the Code of Ethics provide support for nurse

advocacy and the future of the profession.

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References

American Nurses Association (2015). Code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements.

Silver Spring, MD: Nursesbooks.org Retrieved from

https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/nursing-excellence/ethics/code-of-ethics-

for-nurses/coe-view-only/

Annesley, S. H. (2019). The implications of health policy for nursing. British Journal of

Nursing, 28(8), 496–502. https://doi.org/10.12968/bjon.2019.28.8.496

de Assunção Ferreira, M., Silva Machado, P., Sauthier, M., & da Silva, R. C. (2020). Nightingale

fundamentals, human care and health policies in the 21st century. Revista Enfermagem

UERJ, 28, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.12957/reuerj.2020.50353

Kansas Hospital Association. Retrieved April 01, 2021, from https://www.kha-net.org/

McGinty, E. E., Siddiqi, S., Linden, S., Horwitz, J., & Frattaroli, S. (2019). Improving the use of

evidence in public health policy development, enactment and implementation: a multiple-

case study. Health Education Research, 34(2), 129–144.

https://doi.org/10.1093/her/cyy050