Policy, Power and Politics in Health Care

This article discusses the impact of policy, power and politics in healthcare. It covers the policy cycle, sociological issues, power in policy development, national diabetes campaign and interconnected systems in healthcare policy development.

Running head: POLICY, POWER AND POLITICS IN HEALTH CARE
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Policy, Power and Politics in Health Care
Student’s Name
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Policy, power and politics in health care
Why a policy cycle is an appropriate tool for developing a new policy
A policy cycle is a series of stages that policy makers use to design policies. It is used to
define a standards process that can be followed by all policy makers to ensure that the policies
they make meet the required standards. Policies have to reflect universalism since they affect a b
road range of people. It is defined as a tool since it is used in analyzing policies to determine
whether they meet the requirements (Cummins, 2011). The tool was designed to achieve
uniformity in policy making and ensure that policy makers meet the required standards when
designing policies. Here the content and the quality of the policy is determined since an iterative
process is defined by the cycle. Through the tool, policy makers use each stage to identify
problems that may arise and evaluate available alternatives to mitigate the situation. Since each
stage is seen separately, it allows iterative working on the work to achieve the best alternative.
A policy cycle creates a common place for practitioners and other who lack experience in
the field of policy to use and make appropriate policies. Research has shown that not all public
servant have experience in policy making but rather the knowledge that they have in a particular
field becomes blended with policy cycles to create better policies for the organization (Everett,
2016). The cycle defines the healthcare process in a simple manner that allows forming of new
policies. Further, it allows those responsible for analysis and implementation to ask questions on
how the process can be improved or how it meets the intended objectives since the cycle allows
an iterative nature of reviewing policy elements.
Key sociological issues and how they determine a person’s state of health

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Sociological issues exist within the society that people live in and have consequences that
extend beyond the individual’s health. In healthcare, social determinants affect the level of
access to health that an individual has and how they respond to healthcare initiatives. Therefore,
sociological issues are conditions in which people are born, raised, work and live in (Pega,
Valentine, Rasanathan, Hosseinpoor, & Neira, 2017). This is an understanding of the social
effects that an environment has on the general health of an individual. These factors include,
income, housing, employment, food, early life, social support and education. Each of these
factors shapes and determines the level of access that an individual has towards healthcare since
they promote or inhibit access to health.
Sociological issues define the distribution of resources in the society and how the
resources are shared amongst all participants in the society. According to Raphael (2014) the
social determinants of health have a major impact on the outcome of any healthcare process.
When providing healthcare it is important to understand the sociological issues that affect a
population, thus the healthcare process should be designed based on the healthcare social
conditions of the population. These issues influence the response to healthcare and the approach
used to initiate a healthcare process. When the issues are not analyzed, disparities such as
discrimination can arise within a population thus leading to poor health outcomes. These factors
form the basis of policy and define the approach that practitioners use. Healthcare professional
need to understand the role that each factor plays in the process of healthcare and how it creates
barriers and opportunities that shape outcome.
Meaning of power in policy development and change

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Power is defined as the ability to influence other by exercising authority that one has over
them. This is thus the ability to get someone to do what you want regardless of the situation that
exists. In power relationships there are winners and losers since one has to win and another one
to loose (Buse, Mays, & Walt, 2005). In healthcare policy power holders are politicians who use
their political power to influence decision making and policy within healthcare. The ability to
wield power and use it threatens the way policies are made within healthcare. Scholars have
argued that there is no apolitical problem which means that politics controls everything in the
society. Healthcare policies are prepared by healthcare professionals but must seek the authority
of politicians to be ratified and made laws. On the other hand, the same power that is made by
these policies must be distributed among different stakeholders in the healthcare system.
Power struggles in the society determine the way policies are made and how they can
influence the society. For example, politicians make laws that favor them, while the government
seeks to ensure that policies made do not give much power and freedom to the public. The
struggle between different stakeholders and who yields more power affect the society since they
challenge the design, adoption and application of policy. From the pluralism view, the society
consists of different interest groups that struggle to safeguard the interests that they have in
healthcare policy. These struggles have both good and bad impacts on the nature of policies that
are designed. Since the healthcare sector is not an independent unit but rather a functional unit of
the larger component, it relies heavily on goodwill of those who yield policy powers to
necessitate and streamline processes within the system.
Policy considerations to be included in a national diabetes campaign

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Diabetes is a concern that affects most developed countries around globe with an
increasing number of people who suffer from this conditions. The main challenge that healthcare
practitioners struggle with is the management of diabetes conditions within patients. One major
consideration that practitioners need to focus on is managing the condition through medication
and diet (Bergman, et al., 2015). Most people find it difficult to manage their health due to diet
and other lifestyle issues that the conditions creates. Policies need to focus on assisting patients
to easily manage their condition.
Another important level in diabetes management is personal management of blood sugar
level through self-monitoring. Patients need to understand how to monitor blood sugar levels by
doing self-testing checks to determine the level of sugar in their system (Narayan, author, &
Williamson, 2010). Self-testing allows patients to test the level of sugar in their system and
determine whether it falls within the required standards or not.
Another area that patients need to focus on is management of other conditions that relate
to diabetes. Researchers argue that the major problem in managing any healthcare condition is
dealing with other conditions that arise due to the diabetic condition. Complications such as
cardiovascular disease, nerve damage, kidney damage, eye damage, foot damage, skin conditions
and hearing impairment which make the patient have greater risks (Palermo & Ponzini, 2010).
Global campaigns must ensure that they address other conditions related to diabetes to assist
patients mitigate the conditions and lead better lives.
Lastly, there is need to focus on strategies that can be used to prevent diabetes. Primary
prevention mechanisms need to focus on how to prevent diabetes especially in children. In most
cases, obesity is the major cause of diabetes since it creates conditions in the body that make

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people to easily develop this condition. Campaigns must address primary prevention strategies
can be used to improve healthcare conditions easily.
Ways in which interconnected systems are problematic for healthcare policy development
Interconnected systems is the link of different processes in an organization together to
improve efficiency and accountability. However, these systems can be problematic in healthcare
policy making through creating challenges for policy makers since it is difficult creating a policy
that cuts across all the systems. According to Fischer, Miller, & Mara (2007) healthcare system
contain different systems that work together but are not directly related. This situation creates
challenges in developing a policy that meets the condition of all the interconnected system. The
policy has to be all-inclusive rather than independent thus making it difficult for policy makers.
Policy development itself is not an easy thing and linking organizational systems together with a
policy that accommodates all of them becomes a problem since each system is affected by
different conditions. Policy makers struggle harmonizing policies to meet the conditions of every
element of the system. Since the process is iterative, then analyzing the effects of every problem
that the organizational system presents can take longer thus creating unnecessary conditions for
policy makers.
Secondly, coordination of policy during implementation in interconnected systems
becomes difficult for policy makers. Interconnected systems create a wide range of business
outcomes that policy makers have to focus on. Since harmonizing policies to meet the
organizational conditions of the system is a problem, then implementation creates more
challenges for policy makers in designing an implementation strategy for the organization
(Fischer, Miller, & Mara, 2007). Harmonizing the system to respond to the challenges of system

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implementation is also a challenge. In some conditions, the policy may require restructuring the
whole system to create conditions for the new policy or it may require new adjustments to the
system thus making it difficult for implementation.

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References
Bergman, M., Buysschaert, M., Schwarz, P. E., Albright, A., Narayan, K. V., & Yach, D. (2015).
Diabetes prevention: global health policy and perspectives from the ground. Diabetes
Management, 2(4), 309–321.
Buse, K., Mays, N., & Walt, G. (2005). Making Health Policy . In N. Black, & R. Raine,
Understanding Public Health (pp. 11-31). London: Mcgraw Hill.
Cummins, L. (2011). Policy Practice for Social Workers: New Strategies for a New Era.
Pearson.
Everett, S. (2016). The Policy Cycle: Democratic Process or Rational Paradigm Revisited?
Australian Journal of Public Administration, 76(1), 65-79.
Fischer, F., Miller, G. J., & M. S. (2007). ,Handbook of Public Policy Analysis Theory, Politics,
and Method. London: Taylor & Francis Group.
Narayan, K. M., author, M., & Williamson, D. F. (2010). Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes: Risk
Status, Clinic, and Community. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 25(2), 154-157.
Palermo, P. C., & Ponzini, D. (2010). The Challenges for Policy Making. Urban and Landscape
Perspectives, 10, 143-151.
Pega, F., Valentine, N., Rasanathan, K., Hosseinpoor, A. R., & Neira, M. (2017). The need to
monitor actions on the social determinants of health. Bulletin of the World Health
Organization, 95(11), 784–787.
Raphael, D. (2014). Beyond policy analysis: The raw politics behind opposition to healthy public
policy. Health Promotion International, 30, 380–396.

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