NUR 453 Module 2 Discussion Board: The Health Policy Process and Next Steps Example

Reviewed by Ingrid Vasterling, MSN, RN Arizona State University Updated October 2026

This NUR 453 Module 2 sample is the discussion board on the health policy process and next steps in Integration Concepts in the Health Care, which ASU BSN students take before licensure. ASU NUR 453 asks students to connect the policy process to the individual innovation they are building from the group's Health Care in America issue. The composite senior, whose team presented on youth mental health boarding, places the issue in the stages of the policy process and shows that it has reached the agenda but not the decisions. She names the two points where her idea, a nurse who would guide boarding youth through their wait, needs approval from someone with authority, lists her next steps and replies to a classmate about mobile crisis teams.

CourseNUR 453 Integration Concepts in the Health Care
ModuleModule 2
Paper typeDiscussion board post and reply
LengthAbout 357 words
FormatDiscussion post with APA 7 citations
SchoolArizona State University
ProgramBSN in Nursing
UpdatedOctober 2026

Free sample paper for NUR 453 Module 2

1

Discussion: Health Policy Process and My Next Steps

Where Boarding Sits in the Policy Process, and Where My Navigator Idea Needs a Yes

Initial Post

Our group's issue, youth waiting in emergency departments for psychiatric beds, is a good example of how the policy process works and where it stalls. Most models describe a sequence: a problem reaches the agenda, policymakers formulate options, they adopt one, agencies implement it and someone evaluates it.

Boarding has clearly reached the agenda. A national analysis showing that youth mental health visits climbed by more than half in ten years (Bommersbach et al., 2023) have been widely reported, and professional groups have described boarding as harmful (Nordstrom et al., 2019). Formulation is under way in many places, with options ranging from more psychiatric beds to crisis centers and telepsychiatry. Adoption is uneven, and evaluation is thin.

My individual innovation sits at a smaller level, inside one hospital, but it still passes through a policy process. A behavioral health nurse navigator in the pediatric emergency department would need two decisions. First, hospital leaders must fund a nursing position and approve a protocol that lets the navigator start a telepsychiatry consult. Second, the state's Medicaid rules on paying for telepsychiatry consults affect whether the hospital can bill for the psychiatrist's time.

Telepsychiatry is not untested in this setting; a statewide emergency program was linked to fewer admissions and more follow-up care (Narasimhan et al., 2015), which gives leaders a reason to consider it. My next steps: interview the department's nurse manager about staffing and budget, read our hospital's policy on telehealth consults, and look up how Arizona's Medicaid program pays for telehealth behavioral health services before I finish my logic model.

Question for classmates: which stage of the policy process is your issue stuck in?

What this page is doingThe post applies the stages of the policy process to the group's issue and then to the student's own innovation, naming the two decisions it requires, which links policy concepts to the work the course builds toward.
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Reply to a Classmate (Mobile Crisis Teams)

You argued that mobile crisis teams could keep some youth out of the emergency department altogether. I agree they work upstream of my navigator idea. I wonder whether the two could connect: a navigator could refer families to the mobile team for follow-up after discharge. Did you find data on how often mobile teams prevent a second emergency visit?

References

Bommersbach, T. J., McKean, A. J., Olfson, M., & Rhee, T. G. (2023). National trends in mental health-related emergency department visits among youth, 2011-2020. JAMA, 329(17), 1469-1477. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2023.4809

Narasimhan, M., Druss, B. G., Hockenberry, J. M., Royer, J., Weiss, P., Glick, G., Marcus, S. C., & Magill, J. (2015). Impact of a telepsychiatry program at emergency departments statewide on the quality, utilization, and costs of mental health services. Psychiatric Services, 66(11), 1167-1172. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201400122

Nordstrom, K., Berlin, J. S., Nash, S. S., Shah, S. B., Schmelzer, N. A., & Worley, L. L. M. (2019). Boarding of mentally ill patients in emergency departments: American Psychiatric Association resource document. Western Journal of Emergency Medicine, 20(5), 690-695. https://doi.org/10.5811/westjem.2019.6.42422

What the NUR 453 Module 2 instructions ask for

The posted syllabus lists four discussion boards worth 20 of 200 points, each with a post and a reply. This first board asks about the health policy process and your next steps with the individual Health Care in America innovation, and the course also runs an in-class health policy workshop that feeds into it. Canvas holds the prompt wording, posting dates and rubric. Expect to explain the stages of the policy process, place your group's issue within them using evidence, and say what your own innovation will need from decision makers and what you will do next. A reply to a classmate should connect their issue to yours or ask a question that moves their thinking forward. Keep the post focused on your issue rather than on policy theory in general.

Inside the NUR 453 Module 2 example

The post names the stages of the policy process in one sentence and then places the boarding issue within them, using national data and a professional resource document to show it has reached the agenda. It then scales down to the student's own innovation and identifies two decisions it needs, one inside the hospital and one in state payment rules. Three concrete next steps follow, each tied to the logic model she is about to write. A question invites classmates to locate their own issues. The reply links a classmate's upstream idea to the student's downstream one and asks for data. Two sources support the post.

Reading the NUR 453 Module 2 grading rubric

Discussion posts in this course are likely graded on accurate use of course concepts, application to the student's own issue and innovation, use of evidence, the quality of the reply and timely, professional writing. Posts earn most when they move from a general model to specific decisions and next steps. Evidence should be current and cited. A reply that links two topics or asks for evidence shows engagement. Concise writing is valued on a board that many classmates read. Because the discussion boards together carry a tenth of the grade, steady, thoughtful posts across all four matter more than one long post.

NUR 453 Module 2 help with common mistakes

Many policy posts list the stages of the process and stop. Show where your issue is now and what your innovation needs. Another common miss is ignoring policy inside organizations; hospital protocols and budgets are policy too. Cite one source for any national figure. If you would like a post drafted around your own HCA issue and innovation idea, describe both to the desk with the board prompt. Post early so classmates have time to reply. Read two classmates' posts before you write your reply, and choose the one where you can add the most. A clear next step for each stage you name makes the post useful to you later in the term.

Write yours, or have the desk draft it

This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Arizona State University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.

More NUR 453 and BSN in Nursing sample papers

NUR 453 Module 2 questions, answered

Where can I find a free NUR 453 Module 2 sample paper?

The post above is a complete NUR 453 discussion board sample on the health policy process and next steps, applied to youth mental health boarding and a nurse navigator innovation.

How many discussion boards are in NUR 453?

The posted syllabus lists four discussion boards, worth 20 of the course's 200 points.

What are the stages of the health policy process?

Agenda setting, formulation of options, adoption, implementation and evaluation, though real policies often move back and forth between stages.

Is hospital policy part of the health policy process?

Yes. Decisions about budgets, positions and protocols inside an organization follow a similar process and often decide whether an innovation happens.

What should next steps in an HCA innovation include?

Specific actions such as interviewing a manager, reading the relevant policy and checking payment rules before you finish the logic model.