1. Application of Course Knowledge: Answer all questions/criteria with explanations and detail.
   • Describe the impact on your nursing practice.
   • Discuss the impact on the practice environment.
   • Analyze the individual’s leadership skills using either the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) or the American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONL) leadership competencies provided in the Week 1 Explore lesson.
2. Integration of Evidence: Integrate relevant scholarly sources as defined by program expectations:
   • Cite a scholarly source in the initial post.

What components of the ACA do you think will have a positive effect on improving health care outcomes and decreasing costs? 

500 WORDS, APA 2 CITATIONS

 Reply it no less than 200 words using 1 APA reference. 

Marijuana is a psychoactive drug that generally consists of leaves and flowers of the cannabis sativa plant. Marijuana is a Schedule I controlled substance under the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA; 21 U.S.C. §801 et seq.), and thus is strictly regulated by federal authorities. In contrast, over the last several decades, most states and territories have deviated from a comprehensive prohibition of marijuana and have laws and policies allowing for some cultivation, sale, distribution, and possession of marijuana.

Medicinal marijuana policies in the United States have evolved significantly over the past few decades, reflecting changing attitudes towards cannabis as a therapeutic agent. As of 2024, medicinal marijuana is legal in 36 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands ("State Medical Marijuana Laws," 2024). These laws vary widely in terms of the conditions qualifying for medicinal use, possession limits, and regulatory frameworks.

Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States. According to data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), in 2022 an estimate 61.9 million individuals aged 12 or older used marijuana in the past year. Therefore,  the federal stance on medicinal marijuana remains contentious. Despite states legalizing its use, cannabis remains classified as a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), which poses significant challenges for researchers and patients seeking federal protections ("Drug Scheduling," n.d.). This conflict between state and federal laws creates legal uncertainties and barriers to accessing cannabis for medicinal purposes, hindering comprehensive research into its potential benefits and risks.

Under federal law, a drug must be approved by FDA before it may be marketed or prescribed in the United States. To date, FDA has not approved a marketing application for marijuana for the treatment of any condition (as it remains a Schedule I substance); however, FDA has approved one cannabis-derived drug and three marijuana-related drugs that are available by prescription.

Furthermore, disparities exist in how states regulate and tax medicinal marijuana, influencing patient access and industry growth. States like California and Colorado have established robust regulatory frameworks, whereas others continue to refine their policies to balance patient access with public health concerns ("Medical Marijuana Laws by State," n.d.).

References

1.       Drug Scheduling. (n.d.). U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Retrieved July 7, 2024, from https://www.dea.gov/drug-scheduling

2.       State Medical Marijuana Laws. (2024). National Conference of State Legislatures. Retrieved July 7, 2024, from https://www.ncsl.org/research/health/state-medical-marijuana-laws.aspx

3.       Medical Marijuana Laws by State. (n.d.). ProCon.org. Retrieved July 7, 2024, from https://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/state-by-state-medical-marijuana-laws

• Topic is related to healthcare and/or nursing 
• Minimum 10 pgs in length (Counting the title pages and References section)  
• Cover pg, in APA style  
• References pg, in APA style 
• 3-5 scholarly sources cited in the body of the assignment and listed in the References section, all in APA format 
• A clear, debatable, narrow thesis statement  
• Formatting according to APA guidelines for student ppers (See the OWL: Student Sample Assignment for an example)  
• Double spaced, Times New Roman, 12pt font, 1-inch margins  

#1 

1. Healthcare informatics is the collection and application of healthcare data to implement to optimal systems and processes that improve patient outcomes. Healthcare informatics helps enhance quality and safety of healthcare provided across various settings.

2. After asking two colleague's, one described healthcare informatics as the use of computer systems to interpret patient data to come up with new healthcare technology. The other one described it similarly as the use of technology to improve healthcare processes. 

3. As defined by the textbook, "informatics is an interdisciplinary field that draws from, as well as contributes to, computer science, decision science, information science, management science, cognitive science, and organizational theory" (Hebda, Hunter, & Czar, 2019). I think that all of our opinions align with the definition of informatics having to with computer and information science.  What I think differs is that we all did not know the broad spectrum that healthcare informatics encompasses and that there are many subspecialties of healthcare informatics.

#2

1. What is Health Informatics?

Health informatics is a discipline that combines health sciences, information technology, and with computer science to manage data related to healthcare. It improves patient care, clinical workflows and health decisions by effectively utilizing data & technology.

1. Definitions of Healthcare Informatics by Colleagues:

Peer 1: "The purpose of healthcare informatics is to gather, store and process health data using technology with the goal being focused on enhancing patient outcomes and enhance accuracy in general about how care within a clinical setting will be developed."

Me (as Colleague 2:) Healthcare Informatics to me is leveraging IT systems for identifying, retrieving and interpreting health information So that makes the process of accessing crucial information from a bunch of records into meaningful clinical intelligence more seamless.

1. Evaluation and Description of Positions

Informatics in healthcare is "the integration of nursing science, computer science and information sciences to manage and communicate data, information, knowledge etc. necessary for the practice of nursing" (Hebda, Hunter & Czar,2019 p. 5).

Comparison:

Alignment:

Every definition focuses on leveraging technology, data management to augment delivery of healthcare.

The text book definition matched both me and my colleagues better with everyone also saying the use IT systems for managing health information to improve patient care.

Differences:

The updated version of the nurse integration textbook definition specifically mentions integrating "nursing science" in nursing practice, whereas my own and those of other colleagues are more general to include healthcare overall yet does not delineate what part is specific to nurses.

Our definitions are less explicit about the idea that informatics is not just managing data but also dealing with more than raw data: transforming it into wisdom (as described in this textbook – and elsewhere).

Conclusion:

While the individual perspectives and the textbook definition share common themes of technology, data management, and improving healthcare outcomes, the textbook provides a more detailed and specific framework, particularly emphasizing the role of nursing science and the progression from data to wisdom.

 (1) Why are you choosing this particular program of study? (2) What do you expect to derive from your program of study? and (3) What do you expect to contribute as a profession member?