In nursing, a protocol is often a set of criteria and rules that nurses should follow in their practice. Nurses apply certain interventions and procedures according to protocols, in which a series of actions is usually described. On the contrary, a standard of care delivery in the field of nursing is a set of guidelines for a nurse to act in a particular situation, and these actions are usually regulated according to policies and laws. In this context, policies at hospital, state, and federal levels are regulations, according to which nurses’ actions are prescribed and limited (Austin & Wetle, 2017). At the practice and hospital levels, policies regulate nurses’ interactions with patients, procedures, schedules, or cooperation with colleagues, for example. At the state and federal levels, policies are designed to determine the principles of activities for all the nursing professionals in the country.
It is also necessary to discuss the perceptions of the US healthcare system in relation to care providers, payers, patients, and policymakers. Patients as receivers of medical services and care usually describe the care delivery industry in the United States as more oriented toward profits rather than positive patient outcomes. In their turn, payers accentuate the fact that the healthcare system is unreasonably and extremely expensive (Lyu et al., 2017). Medical professionals and nurses usually emphasize such problems as inappropriate schedules, burnout, exhaustion, stress, and the lack of material, time, and human resources. Policymakers often admit that the promotion of changes in the healthcare industry of the country is one of the most challenging tasks. As a result, different actors tend to focus on the areas that are more significant and relevant for them.
References
Austin, A., & Wetle, V. (2017). The United States health care system: Combining business, health, and delivery (3rd ed.). Pearson Education.
Lyu, H., Xu, T., Brotman, D., Mayer-Blackwell, B., Cooper, M., Daniel, M., Wick, E. C., Saini, V., Brownlee, S., & Makary, M. A. (2017). Overtreatment in the United States. PloS One, 12(9), e0181970.