My Personal and Professional Growth throughout My RN-to-BSN Program and Capstone Project

How Health Policy Influenced My Planning and Implementation of My Capstone Project

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) influenced the implementation of my Capstone project. The Act requires individuals to safeguard patients’ protected health information from being accessed by unauthorized individuals or without patients’ knowledge or consent (CDC, 2018). The rule provides guidelines for sharing information with covered entities and individual rights to control the use of their protected health information. HIPAA’s primary goal is to protect patients’ health information while permitting sharing information required enhancing the public’s well-being and healthcare quality. Therefore, while working with the patients, I ensured to protect their sensitive health information from being accessed by unauthorized individuals. The information included the patient’s past or current health status, prescription information, medical test results, treatment information, and diagnosis. Other protected health information includes demographic information, national identification numbers, and emergency contact. 

However, I realized that HIPAA undermines collaboration because some covered entities are unwilling to share patient’s protected health information for fear of violating the privacy rule. Additionally, patient’s health information is shared by covered entities that have or have had relationship with the patient. Such requirements undermine collaboration because the patient in question may not have had or have any relationship with the covered entity. Therefore, policy adjustments are necessary to facilitate corporation between healthcare providers in patient treatment. 

Whether the Capstone Project Outcomes Matched My Initial Predictions

My capstone project matched my initial predictions because many diabetic patients are not taking care of themselves as required, resulting in numerous diabetes-related complications. However, the target population understood the importance of regular physical exercise, healthy eating, annual physical and eye exam, and asking for appropriate vaccinations through the capstone project. The patients were happy with the education sessions because they understood the importance of managing their condition to prevent diabetes-related complications and improve their health outcomes. My intervention can be adopted as best practice because diabetic knowledge and education reduces diabetes-related complications, risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes, and reduces mortality and morbidity in diabetes. The intervention is generalizable to other settings because diabetes remains a significant challenge worldwide, and self-management can improve patients’ health outcomes.  Therefore, the intervention is not limited to my practice setting but to other settings as well.

  I have grown personally and professionally throughout the program and capstone project. As a nurse, I have ethical and professional responsibilities to offer assistance, enhance patients’ safety and practice within the scope of practice. Additionally, I have to take into consideration patients’ decisions when providing care. Although respecting patients’ autonomy is recommended, it is also necessary to reason with the patient when their decisions will harm instead of improving their health outcomes.

One specific area that I am proud of is my ability to use evidence-based resources to back up my claims.  Through the program, I learned to search for evidence and differentiate between reliable and unreliable evidence. For instance, the author’s institutional affiliation and educational background help determine whether a source is relevant or biased. Similarly, checking for timeliness and accuracy of the source is paramount.  I am also proud because I analyzed HIPAA act and highlighted some of the policy drawbacks.  Although the policy protects patients’ sensitive information, it undermines collaboration because some of its provisions require entities to share information if the patient has had or has relationship with them. Thus, sharing the patients’ protected health information becomes challenging if they have been referred to an entity that they have had no relationship with in the past. Therefore, healthcare policymakers should review the provisions to facilitate collaboration among entities. I was also satisfied with implementing the diabetes intervention plan because I realized that some patients’ lack of awareness about their conditions results in life-threatening complications. Therefore, as a healthcare provider, I plan to continually educate patients with chronic conditions about their disease and manage it through lifestyle modification to e