Nursing, and the Quality of Health Care Essay

Quality Analysis

The relationship between cost and quality in health care is not a constant, but in general, higher costs are associated with the most modern equipment and drugs. However, to fully understand the connection between cost and quality, the term "quality" needs to be defined, and in addition the cost drivers need to be understood. There are many cost drivers in health care that are not related to quality -- profits, administrative expenses, superfluous regulatory burden, information asymmetry, lack of competition and more. Among the cost drivers that are related to quality are paying higher wages to acquire and retain the best staff, investment in equipment, facilities and supplies, information technology investments, innovation, and regulations that serve to improve quality. Thus, while there is some correlation between and quality, it is not necessarily a strong correlation, and furthermore there may be instance where higher costs have nothing at all to do with quality (Fenton et al., 2012). Likewise, there can be quality improvements that have no effect, or a negative effect, on the quality of health care.

There are a few different agencies that play a role in health care quality. The FDA is a public agency that impacts on health care quality through its role as regulator of drugs and medical devices. The FDA is responsible for the programs by which pharmaceuticals and medical devices are tested and authorized for sale in the U.S. The FDA has significant enforcement power. The purpose of the FDA is therefore to ensure that not only are drugs screened for safety and efficacy prior to being introduced into the market, but that there are post-approval follow-ups to ensure that drugs are being used for approved uses only. This system arose because consumers do not have the knowledge to evaluate drugs, and therefore are highly susceptible to fraudulent claims and other chicanery that existed prior to the FDA's creation (FDA, 2014). In addition to governing quality, the FDA influences. It allows monopolies on newly approved products, which increases costs, but has streamlined pathways for generic approvals when the time comes, something that lowers the cost. For better or worse, the FDA has a fairly significant influence over the cost of health care, in addition to the regulatory role in plays in quality.

A private agency that plays a role in health care quality is the American Nurses Association. The ANA is a professional organization, run by nurses to reflect the interests of nurses on a number of levels. One of the mandates that the ANA has is to "ensure that an adequate supply of highly-skilled and well-educated nurses is available" for the nation's health care system (ANA, 2015). By fostering high standards of performance in the nursing profession, the ANA helps to ensure that the quality of health care is high in America. The organization is essential in terms of ensuring that nurses have a major role to play, and that the…