Managed Care and Nursing: Unmanageable Term Paper

The reluctance to refer patients to specialists may also mean that nurses must practice more holistic, rather than specialized forms, of nursing. The desire for cost containment has resulted in many nurses assuming physician's duties, such as those duties confined in previous eras to the patient's primary care physician. In states with high HMO (Health Maintenance Organization) enrollment, more nurses were shifted to lower-paying nonhospital settings, such as in home health care settings, to defray costs (Buerhaus & Staiger 1996).

What affect has manage care had on nursing education?

Surprisingly, the majority of nursing schools still do not work with a managed care organization or with physician training programs to facilitate educating student nurses in managed care competencies. However, 57% of hospitals do offer continuing education to staff members though educational seminars, staff meetings, and other programs (Copeland 2003, p.2-3). Although the managed care system is likely to change in the not-so-distant future as calls for healthcare reform become increasingly loud, the fact that the managed care approach is unlikely to entirely to disappear, coupled with unique challenges posed by the financial demands of healthcare has caused many nursing schools to either revise their curriculums or to add certification for nurses seeking to specialize in managed care organizations or approaches.

Nursing practice and the environments within which nurses work are under constant influence from health care financing changes, shortages of health care workers, new technologies, and other national, societal, and economic factors. The impact of fewer resources, escalating costs, and more chronically ill patients calls for continuing education in managed care type skills in nursing as well as in all health care provider groups.With this changing environment in managed care, there is a need to integrate clinical practice with education that focuses on population-based health management, psychosocial interventions, coordination of care, and analytic use of multiple data sources of patient information (Copeland, et.al. 2003, p1.) in other words, regardless of what face healthcare wears in the future; all healthcare is likely to be managed to some degree or another. With this in mind, integrating more managed care education into student nurses' experiences, combined with the need for institutions to give already trained nurses the opportunity to enhance their knowledge and capabilities in managed care through the offering of seminars, independent and distance learning, workshops, as well as financial and scholarship assistance to study pertinent issues is likely to be the ideal educational approach to teaching managed care in the future.

Works Cited

Buerhaus P.I. & D.O. Staiger. (13 Nov 1996). "Managed care and the nurse workforce." JAMA. 276.18. Retrieved 10 Jun 2008 at http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/276/18/1487

Copeland, Liesel H.,

Ellen Brzytwa,

Carol Blixen,

Mariana G. Hewson. (Jan-Feb 2003).

Managed care education for nurses: practices and proposals." Nursing Economics. Retrieved 10 Jun 2008 at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FSW/is_1_21/ai_n18615229

McPeck, Phil. (30 Apr 2002). "A balancing act." Nurse Week. Retrieved 10 Jun 2008 at http://www.nurseweek.com/news/features/02-04/utilization_web.asp

Shapiro, Robyn. (29 Jan 2000). "Bioethics study shows managed care's effect on doctor patient relationships." Medical College of Wisconsin's Center for the Study of Bioethics.

Retrieved 10 Jun 2008 at http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/949091399.html.....