Discuss nursing’s role and responsibility in affecting this change.

The healthcare industry, as we know it, is undergoing massive change. Concerns, questions and issues are on the rise since the Affordable Care Act was fully instituted in 2014. Many forces are driving this apprehension and uncertainty. Social and demographic factors are ever present. The demographics of vulnerable populations are shifting and this is presenting our healthcare delivery system with many challenges. Workforce issues will need to engage an increased number of educated and experienced healthcare personnel to care for the rising number of patients now covered by the ACA. Political forces, driven by regulatory agencies, have a direct impact on access, cost and quality of the healthcare care provided. Healthcare affordability, accessibility and cost containment are also influenced by economic forces as well. Technological and informational forces are still in their preliminary stages and have an important role in transforming healthcare as we know it. Globalization and ensuing ecological forces requires aspects of all forces of change be taken into account. These forces reinforce the need to understand cultural issues and result in concerns for newly discovered diseases, population growth and the effects of disasters of all types (natural, bioterrorism, etc). And finally, anthro-cultural force explains how society has obtained its own philosophies, principles and customs based on past understanding of the establishment of healthcare (Shi & Singh, 2015, p. 544). The past history of healthcare decision-making will have a definitive effect on the success of the future of the ACA. As changes occur within this new infrastructure, the nursing profession is expected to change as well. The profession of nursing needs to understand the impacts these forces and the ACA will have on the future of the U.S. healthcare delivery system of the future.
Reference
Shi, L., & Singh, D. (2015). Delivering health care in America. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC.

Choose one force of change (as mentioned in the Instructor’s Commentary). Provide your opinion of whether aspects of the ACA can be positively or negatively driven by force. Analyze the effect this force can have on changing healthcare as we know it today. Discuss nursing’s role and responsibility in affecting this change.