Karen Daley Case Study

Karbowski 905 Discussion Board 2 In 1998 Karen Daley received an injury that changed her personal and professional life, a needle stick occurred while doing her job and utilizing provided equipment which infected her with life-threatening illnesses. She became ill but did not shy away from informing and working towards protecting others. She is a nurse in the truest sense.
Identification
The first step towards a solution is to identify then frame the problem so that others might understand (Mason, Gardner, Outlaw & O’Grady, 2016.) Research confirmed that 600,000 needle stick injuries occurred each year in the United States and that 80% of these could be prevented using existing technologies (Daley). The Massachusetts Nurses Association
(MNA) assistance in framing and filing a bill for needle stick prevention legislation was only the first step of many in crafting a solution.
Kingdon’s Model Disparate forces must coalesce to provide clarity and solutions within a political system for the issue you wish to solve.
Ms. Daley successfully navigated and helped define the problem for legislators and offered multiple viable solutions. Next, propelling and riding the crest of a political wave to open a window for adoption and implementation would need to be achieved across multiple
fronts. Kingdon proposed a three stream model to help explain the conditions that must be met to have a policy become law (Mason et al., 2016.) Firstly, the policy makers must recognize the problem and be provided solutions that could be implemented to serve the needs of varying constituents. The second stream in this model is to define a goal that the policy is to accomplish. Individual tragedies are just that, individual, for a policy to move forward it needs to demonstrate an impact for the betterment of our society or economic system (Mason et al., 2016.) Hepatitis C was the primary reason for costly liver transplant surgery in the United States, and needlesticks were identified as the leading cause of health care workers contracting this disease (Daley, 2005.) Policy makers now had their goal of eliminating human suffering and decreasing costs thus benefiting all of the society. Lastly, the wave to propel the third stream of changing or influencing the political environment was captured by Ms. Daley and others unselfish and brave decisions to disclose their illnesses in very public forums. Some of these were Joint Health Care Committees, statewide print and television outlets, direct contact with senators and legislators, American Nurse Association assemblies, and speaking engagements across the country. The overall effectiveness of the s public campaigning became apparent in 1999 when state legislators began to pass bills mandating the use of safer devices and technologies of their health facilities choosing to prevent needlestick injuries.
One Voice is Strong, but Many are Stronger In 1999 the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (0SHA) began to collect evidence of the effectiveness of sharps safety devices.
Hospitals, manufacturers, and unions coalesced to bring pressure to bear on legislators to amend an existing OSHA standard requiring the use of safer sharps devices/systems in all health care facilities (Daley, 2005.)
Conclusion
In the end, the demonstrated efficacy of varying safety devices tied into lowering health care costs and the availability of a variety of manufacturers and devices available to suit varying constituents needs came together. Combining the above with 11 states passing bills and 20 more considering bills, congressional testimony from Daley, the ANA and the American Hospital Association and multiple unions, the Needlestick and Safety Prevention Act became law on October 6, 2000. Tireless work was required in multiple venues across many state lines to form coalitions, raise voices and educate policymakers along with the public to bring the divergent streams of problems, policy, and politics into alignment to achieve this worthwhile goal.

References
Daley, K. A. (n.d.). FSU NUR 905C2H Spring 16 Karen Daley story fall.doc. Retrieved May 2017
Mason, D. J., Gardner, D. B., Outlaw, F. H., & O'Grady, E. T. (2016). Policy & Politics in Nursing and Health Care. St. Louis:
Elsevier.