Week 2: Political, Ethical, and Economical
Influences on Health
As you examined in Week 1, the disparity of available health care staffing is varied throughout the world. Often, countries with the greatest disease burden have the fewest health care professionals available to care for their populations. This week extends the premise further to analyze the influence of politics, ethics, economics, environment, and culture on the public’s health in the global arena. Through health care policy and advocacy efforts, nurses act as change agents to improve the quality of care and quality of life for poor and disenfranchised populations.
Ethics in nursing practice and health care is a vitally important issue on the global health care front. A nurse’s responsibility toward a patient or a population can be viewed as an act that supports the preservation of human rights, dignity, and social justice. Nurses can address these needs in several ways, such as through political avenues, and by educating the community on disease prevention and proven methods to safeguard good health. By communicating a population’s vulnerability to specific ailments and diseases, nurses can be found working to promote health, prevent illness, and assist in recovery from many health problems.
This week you will examine how politics and economics influence health and health care. You will also consider ethical dilemmas when promoting health for a population.
Learning Objectives
Students will:
- Evaluate how politics and economics influence health and health care
- Analyze political or economic system’s influence on health
- Analyze government intervention for a health care system
- Analyze approaches for mitigating outbreaks in relation to nursing practice*
*The Assignment related to this Learning Objective is introduced this week and submitted in Week 3.
