Ilia Mondoy: Undergraduate Portfolio

Selected Evidence to Meet Outcome

This evidence illustrates how I participated in influencing the health care delivery system in different points.  The health care delivery system is influenced in many ways, and as a nurse we can be a part at any end of the spectrum.  The initial stage is researching an area of health care.  My change project assessed the needs of a community to help determine if the current system was meeting the communities needs, and to uncover evidence if there were better avenues to help deliver care to the community.  My change project intended to alter the delivery of discharge teaching, which could be beneficial to new families.  Going to Nurse Lobby Day was a visual means in which to influence the government to keep funding for state sponsored health care endeavors.  

Reflections

My community health project to me illustrated the initial process of changing the health care delivery system: analyzing the current system to see if it is effective.  This project was to research the population demographic, in our case teens, to see if they were receiving the reproductive health services they needed.  We analyzed the current data, looked at health statistics, and the trends indicated that there is indeed a need for reproductive health services.  There is something that the current system is not effectively addressing.  So our project was to survey the community to determine what the community wanted, and how to better address those needs.  With the data, our community partner planned to alter its current practice in order to better address the needs of the community.

Initially, I had no idea how much was involved in participating in change.  This project helped me see that there are many unnamed faces involved in shaping health care.  It is also important to do your research to determine if there is a need to change something, just as there is a need to evaluate the current system to determine its efficacy.

While my project was ultimately unsuccessful in enacting change, it taught me a lot that participation does not always get the results you want.  It is disappointing to put a lot of hard work into a project only to see it not be realized, but not every venture is going to be successful. 

I learned so much about how many people need to agree to a project, and was introduced to the political aspect of policy change.  In changing the health care delivery system, I realized I need to be aware of who the decision makers in a system are, be politically astute as to how I should promote my change, and make an effort to work with the established group and not make the group feel jeopardized.  This sensitivity to the nuances of power in a work environment is a tool I feel I learned during my education, because before I thought that I could present a change that is valid and right, and on its merit alone it would be passed. 

The challenge was even though we may not have been successful in implementation, we participated in the process and I am not discouraged that I failed.  This project made me aware that I have to be thorough in my planning, truly believe that my influence the health delivery system has merit, is the best course of action, and be willing to collaborate with others in order to achieve my goals.

I have always had mixed feelings about unions.  At one point they may have had merit, but in this era I felt that unions had been corrupted by money and personal games, and that the members of the union are merely pawns to advance the real motives of the union- increasing power and money.  That being said I attended Nurse Lobby Day on February 2nd, 2009.

Nurse Lobby day was a pleasant surprise.  While some of the motives are based on self interest of nurses, there are topics that the WSNA endorses that are geared toward improving the health of the population and attempting to change the dialogue about how our state sees health care.  

Nurse Lobby day sought to influence legislators to maintain current funding levels for health care services in the state by gathering all its members and attending numerous meetings, as well as signing up to testify on behalf of various bills being heard.  It was inspiring to see nursing in action in this vein, and while I did not testify, I did sign a roster in support of a bill.

Future Plans

In my job site, I plan on becoming active in various hospital committees.  Once my residency is over I plan on volunteering to sit on the policy development committee, and will eventually like to gain a supervisory role.  In order to achieve that goal I intend to return to school to get a masters of nursing in Community Health or Nursing Administration.

It is important to me as a nurse to become part of the health care debate.  The country is on the cusp of change, and nurses must be vocal to support patient rights, fair treatment for nurses, and a fiscally conservative manner in which we manage care in Washington.  I can accomplish this by supporting legislation through testimony and voting, and being active in policy development committees in hospitals.