Healthcare Reform from a Nurse's Perspective: Why We Need What the GOP Wants to Take Away

There's a lot of confusion about the healthcare reform bill passed earlier this year, mostly because it's all inundated in highly politicized sludge. From death panels to other forms of extreme hearsay, no one seems to know exactly how the reforms will turn out. And now, with the upcoming elections, Republicans are all rallying to supposedly "repeal" the bill. Since a Republican Senate takeover seems highly unlikely at this point, making the GOP's resolve to repeal the bill just another empty campaign promise, a recent article from Reuters suggests that Republicans can take other measures to block the successful implementation of reforms.

As someone who is well acquainted with the nursing industry, I'd like to offer a nurse's perspective on why healthcare reform is so important, and why electing Republicans to Congress risks the changes that are so desperately need in the one profession that works on the very front lines of health care.

Firstly, nursing staff is at the heart of every healthcare facility in the United States. But there are several barriers that nurses faces, including understaffed facilities, meaning nurses have to work overtime for little pay, lack of opportunities for affordable advancement in education, and little involvement in key decision-making when it comes to dealing with patients, despite the fact that nurses often work more intimately with patients than any other providers.

The health care reform bill contains several key components that serve to address these problems. The reauthorization of Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development Programs provides federal funding for nursing education, ensuring that there will be enough qualified, educated nurses to meet the high demand for staff in the future.

Another important aspect of the healthcare reform bill is an added definition of "nurse-managed health clinic" in the Public Health Service Act, adding a $50 million grant program to expand nurse-managed clinics in areas where physicians are in short supply. According to Kenneth Miller, chairman of the National Nursing Centers Consortium, "The inclusion of nurse-managed health clinics in health care reform shows that lawmakers understand that our healthcare issues cannot be solved by insurance alone, and that nurse practitioners are the future of primary care in the United States."

There are several more aspects of healthcare reform that would specifically benefit nurses and their close relationship with patients. There is a reason, after all, why National Nurses United (NNU) has endorsed Democratic candidates and has launched several protests against GOP candidates, most noteworthy of which was its campaign against Nevada Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle.

Perhaps an NNU statement put it best when it said, "If there is one enduring theme of the 2010 elections it will be the growing perversion of the political system by unimaginable wealth, best symbolized by two [Republican] candidates for governor, Meg Whitman in California and Rick Scott in Florida."



This guest post is contributed by Kitty Holman, who writes on the topics of nursing schools. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: kitty.holman20@gmail.com/