Nurs Econ
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The World Health Assembly (WHA) is the decision-making body of the World Health Organization. Delegates attending the Sixty-Eighth WHA, May 2015, covered a wide range of global challenges and agreed on several key resolutions of importance to nurse leaders. Some of the resolutions adopted relevant for nurse leaders and nursing care such as air pollution, strategies to strengthen epilepsy care, antimicrobial drug resistance, and strategies to strengthen surgical care, are highlighted. Nurse leaders should consider attending the World Health Assembly, as the topics discussed are critical for the future directions of strengthening human resources for health worldwide and, in particular, nursing and midwifery services.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) is the United Nation's lead agency for directing and coordinating health. As leaders, nurse executives must advocate for a stronger nursing and midwifery health policy agenda at the global level and a seat at the table on WHO's technical advisory bodies and expert committees. There are no more borders as nurse executives; we are global citizens, leading global change. Nurse leaders hold the master key to shape the world's policies for sustainable global development.
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Health care and nurse staffing present interesting challenges for nursing and health care leaders. The recently released Evidence and Excellence in Staffing (2nd edition) creates a framework for research and organizational improvement that leads to the development and sharing of best practices. A new model for staffing excellence has emerged with five core concepts. This new position paper calls for generating and disseminating 25-30 new best practices in nurse staffing across the care continuum over the next 3 years.
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The Supreme Court decision of June 2012 left states free to decide on how to undertake Medicaid expansion without facing the substantial financial penalties envisioned by the Affordable Care Act. Currently, 25 states and the District of Columbia are moving forward with the expansion; 22 have decided not to move forward and the remaining 3 are still debating the issue. The evidence to date suggests Medicaid expansion would have several benefits to states including improved population health from expanded coverage, improved financial positions of hospitals and other providers, and economic benefits such as increased employment and tax revenues. Because of these potential impacts of Medicaid expansion on patients and providers of health care, the nursing profession may wish to play an educational or advocacy role in the ongoing debate.