Essay on ECG Proposed Policy

The American Heart Association recommends that an ECG be done on every patient complaining of chest pain within ten minutes. An electrocardiogram is a experiment that evaluates the electrical movement of the heartbeat rate. The test measures how extensive the electric trend takes to get through to the human heart thus showing if the electrical motion is normal or not. The test is also used to observe if any parts are outsized or overworked in the heart. It is also worth mentioning that the ECG test does not hurt and is not harmful since it does not send electricity to the body. The reason for this recommendation is that due continued reduction in Medicaid reimbursement, the patients are not able to afford medication and regular follow-ups. As a result, the heart patients tend only to seek medical attention only when the cases are extreme such as when they feel that they can no longer breathe or when they can no longer walk uphill. Additionally, even when the patients visit the hospital in these extreme cases, it is still difficult to maintain the required treatment and follow-ups due to lack of enough funds.

The proposed policy of having an ECG done within ten minutes of a patient walking in the door complaining of chest pain will help detect any heart problem early enough and will significantly reduce the cost of treatment. The proposed policy could be enacted through a modification of the already existing laws and regulations. The regulations will only be modified to include the electrocardiogram being done on all the patients going to hospitals complaining of chest pains within ten minutes to determine the heart conditions. However, there may be need to create a new regulation that gives a guideline of how the tests should be carried efficiently to benefit all the patients experiencing chest pains.

It is worth mentioning that some of the existing laws could affect the advocacy efforts of the ECG proposed policy. One of the laws is the Medicaid and Medicare laws that require that people with lower incomes and the aging have access to health care. However, with the continued decrease in the Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement, most of the people are not able to acquire the necessary medical attention early enough. With the millions of people in America lacking the insurance, it will be difficult for them to be included in the proposed policy (Barnett 20017). The Medicaid and Medicare law will significantly affect the proposed law as it will not offer affordable healthcare for patients lacking the insurance.

Notably, for the proposed policy to be looked into, supported, and approved by the policymakers, it will be essential to use different methods that will influence the decision of the legislators. The first action will be to lobby the government officials by encouraging them to show support for the proposed policy that will be used to bring about positive change to the society. The government officers will then go to the public and be our voice to the people and the general public. It is worth mentioning that there is strength in numbers when addressing the public outcry for help (Barnett, 2017). Therefore, with the political officials and the general public in support, it will be easy to influence the legislatures and the policymakers to support our policy.

However, different obstacles could arise in the legislative process. One of the challenges is how millions of Americans will be able to afford the services without a medical cover or insurance. In essence, most of the people lack medical coverage for 2016 that offers affordable healthcare (Jaha, 2017). Therefore, even with the approval of the proposed policy, most of the people will not afford it and thus will not be of any significance to the individuals who need it the most. To overcome this obstacle, advanced nurses will need to educate the general public on the Medicaid and Medicare laws, and the importance of insurance policies that make healthcare accessible and affordable. The education will empower the people with necessary knowledge to make a change. The second obstacle could be increased number of chest pain patients extending the waiting period from ten minutes to even hours. Such an occurrence could be caused by false claims of chest pains by different people just to go through the procedure. To overcome the problem, specific signs and symptoms of people at various age groups could be identified to reduce the number of false claims.

To conclude this discussion, it is worth mentioning that an ECG done within the first ten minutes of a chest pain patient walking in the door of a health unit will help evaluate the electrical activity of the heartbeat and also identify any heart problems early enough. The ECG proposed policy will be enacted through modification of the already existing laws. It could, however, be affected by some of these existing laws such as the Medicaid and Medicare laws. Additionally, for the policy to influence the legislators and policymakers, it will be essential to gain the support of political officers who will in return influence the people in the community. Although the policy may face the obstacle of affordability, advanced nurses will help the public about the importance of health insurance covers and empower the people with knowledge that is necessary to help make a change.

References

Jaha (2017, Feb) Journal of American Heart Association ;Performance of Emergency Department Screening Criteria for and Early ECG to Identify St-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction

Barnett J (2017, Sept) Health Insurance Coverage in The United States 2016 pg 60-260