The document outlines the requirements for developing a 4–6-page position paper on a specific health care issue related to a vulnerable population, emphasizing the need for evidence-based analysis and consideration of opposing viewpoints. It details the competencies to be demonstrated, including evaluating interprofessional interventions, communicating effectively, and analyzing health outcomes for policy advocacy. Additionally, it encourages reflection on personal experiences and existing literature to strengthen the position, ultimately aiming for a proposal that could lead to improved care for the selected population.

1. Overview
Develop a 4–6-page position about a specific health care issue
as it relates to a target vulnerable population. Include an
analysis of existing evidence and position papers to help
support your position. Your analysis should also present and
respond to one or more opposing viewpoints.
Note
: Each assessment in this course builds on the work you
completed in the previous assessment. Therefore, you must
complete the assessments in this course in the order in which
they are presented.
Position papers are a method to evaluate the most current
evidence and policies related to health care issues. They offer a
way for researchers to explore the views of any number of
organizations around a topic. This can help you to develop your
own position and approach to care around a topic or issue.
This assessment will focus on analyzing position papers about
an issue related to addiction, chronicity, emotional and mental
health, genetics and genomics, or immunity. Many of these
topics are quickly evolving as technology advances, or as we
attempt to push past stigmas. For example, technology advances
and DNA sequencing provide comprehensive information to
allow treatment to become more targeted and effective for the
individual. However as a result, nurses must be able to
understand and teach patients about the impact of this
information. With this great power comes concerns that patient
conditions are protected in an ethical and compassionate
manner.
By successfully completing this assessment, you will
demonstrate your proficiency in the following course

2. competencies and assessment criteria:
Competency 1: Design evidence-based advanced nursing care
for achieving high-quality population outcomes.
Evaluate the evidence and positions of others that could support
a team's approach to improving the quality and outcomes of care
for a specific issue in a target population.
Evaluate the evidence and positions of others that are contrary
to a team's approach to improving the quality and outcomes of
care for a specific issue in a target population.
Competency 2: Evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of
interprofessional interventions in achieving desired population
health outcomes.
Explain the role of the interprofessional team in facilitating
improvements for a specific issue in a target population.
Competency 3: Analyze population health outcomes in terms of
their implications for health policy advocacy.
Explain a position with regard to health outcomes for a specific
issue in a target population.

3. Competency 4: Communicate effectively with diverse
audiences, in an appropriate form and style, consistent with
organizational, professional, and scholarly standards.
Communicate an initial viewpoint regarding a specific issue in a
target population and a synthesis of existing positions in a
logically structured and concise manner, writing content clearly
with correct use of grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
Integrate relevant sources to support assertions, correctly
formatting citations and references using APA style.
Position papers are a way for individuals, groups, and
organizations to express their views and intentions toward a
specific issue. In health care, many position papers address
specific policies, regulations, or other approaches to care. As a
master's-prepared nurse, you should feel empowered to express
and advocate for your own views on policy and care matters.
This is especially important when it comes to populations you
or your organization cares for that are not receiving the quality,
type, or amount of care that they require.
An important skill in creating a position paper or policy
proposal is the ability to analyze and synthesize others' views
about the population or issue of interest to you. By synthesizing
the positive and negative views of an issue, you can become
better equipped to strengthen your own arguments and to
respond to opposing views in an informed and convincing way.

4. QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
As you prepare to complete this assessment, you may want to
think about other related issues to deepen your understanding or
broaden your viewpoint. You are encouraged to consider the
questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work
associate, an interested friend, or a member of your professional
community. Note that these questions are for your own
development and exploration and do not need to be completed
or submitted as part of your assessment.
SHOW LESS
Assessment 1 will be based on an analysis of position papers
that are relevant to a health care issue related to a vulnerable
population. Think about your experience working with
vulnerable populations, and the issues related to health care you
have observed for those populations, or reflect on the two Vila
Health simulations in the Resources.
What is the vulnerable population that most interests you?
What is the health issue that is most prevalent or severe in the
population?
How does the health issue impact the daily lives of members of
the population?
How does the care environment in your chosen context impact
both the population and the level of care related to the health
issue?

5. What are the biggest challenges that you would need to
overcome to improve the outcomes for the population related to
the health issue?
What is your position on how to best work to improve the care
and outcomes that the population is receiving?
What previously published position papers support your
position, or the need to work to improve care and outcomes in
general for the population?
How do these position papers support your assertions?
How could one or more of the position papers help you to form
a treatment plan?
What previously published position papers contradict your
position?
What, if any, of these differences would make your position
stronger if you incorporated them?
How could you respond to any irreconcilable differences in such
a way as to encourage buy-in for your position from those
opposed?

6. Assessment Instructions
Scenario
Pretend you are a member of an interprofessional team that is
attempting to improve the quality of health care and the
outcomes in a vulnerable population. For the first step in your
team's work, you have decided to conduct an analysis of current
position papers that address the issue and population you are
considering.
In your analysis you will note the team's initial views on the
issue in the population as well as the views across a variety of
relevant position papers. You have been tasked with finding the
most current standard of care or evidenced-based practice and
evaluating both the pros and cons of the issue. For the opposing
viewpoints, it is important to discuss how the team could
respond to encourage support. This paper will be presented to a
committee of relevant stakeholders from your care setting and
the community. If it receives enough support, you will be asked
to create a new policy that could be enacted to improve the
outcomes related to your chosen issue and target population.
The care setting, population, and health care issue that you use
for this assessment will be used in the other assessments in this
course. Consider your choice carefully. There are two main
approaches for you to take in selecting the scenario for this
assessment:
You may use one of the issues and populations presented in the
Vila Health: Health Challenges in Different Populations and

7. Vila Health: Resources for Topical Research media pieces. For
this approach, you may consider the population in the context of
the Vila Health care setting, or translate it into the context in
which you currently practice or have had recent experience.
You may select a population and issue that is of interest to you
and set them in the context of your current or desired future
care setting. While you are free to choose any population of
interest, the issue you choose should fall within one of the
following broad categories:
Genetics and genomics.
Sickle cell, asthma, multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis.
Immunity.
Type 1 diabetes, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE),
congenital neutropenia syndrome.
Chronicity.
Arthritis, any type of cancer or lung or heart disease, obesity.
Addiction.

8. Abuse of alcohol, prescription drugs, tobacco, illegal
substances.
Emotion and mental health.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, eating
disorders, psychosis.
Note:
If you choose the second option, contact the FlexPath faculty
for your section to make sure that your chosen issue and
population will fit within the topic areas for this course.
Instructions
For this assessment you will develop a position summary and an
analysis of relevant position papers on a health care issue in a
chosen population. The bullet points below correspond to the
grading criteria in the scoring guide. Be sure that your
submission addresses all of them. You may also want to read the
Analysis of Position Papers for Vulnerable Populations Scoring
Guide and Guiding Questions: Analysis of Position Papers for
Vulnerable Populations to better understand how each grading
criterion will be assessed.
Explain a position with regard to health outcomes for a specific

9. issue in a target population.
Explain the role of the interprofessional team in facilitating
improvements for a specific issue in a target population.
Evaluate the evidence and positions of others that could support
a team's approach to improving the quality and outcomes of care
for a specific issue in a target population.
Evaluate the evidence and positions of others that are contrary
to a team's approach to improving the quality and outcomes of
care for a specific issue in a target population.
Communicate an initial viewpoint regarding a specific issue in a
target population and a synthesis of existing positions in a
logically structured and concise manner, writing content clearly
with correct use of grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
Integrate relevant sources to support assertions, correctly
formatting citations and references using APA style.
Example Assessment:
You may use the assessment example, linked in the Assessment
Example section of the Resources, to give you an idea of what a
Proficient or higher rating on the scoring guide would look like.
Additional Requirements
Length of submission
: 4–6 double-spaced, typed pages, not including the title and
reference pages. Your plan should be succinct yet substantive.
No abstract is required.
Number of references

10. : Cite a minimum of 3–5 sources of scholarly or professional
evidence that support your initial position on the issue, as well
as a minimum of 2–3 sources of scholarly or professional
evidence that express contrary views or opinions. Resources
should be no more than five years old.
APA formatting
: Use the APA Style Paper Template linked in the Resources.
An APA Style Paper Tutorial is also provided to help you in
writing and formatting your analysis.
GRADING RUBRIC:
1-
Explain a position with regard to health outcomes for a specific
issue in a target population.
Passing Grade: Explains a position with regard to health
outcomes for a specific issue in a target population, and
identifies assumptions on which the plan is based.
2-
Explain the role of the interprofessional team in facilitating
improvements for a specific issue in a target population.
Passing Grade: Explains the role of the interprofessional team
in facilitating improvements for a specific issue in a target
population. Acknowledges challenges that the team may face in
working together or in facilitating improvements.
3-

11. Evaluate the evidence and positions of others that could support
a team's approach to improving the quality and outcomes of care
for a specific issue in a target population.
Passing Grade: Evaluates the evidence and positions of others
that could support a team's approach to improving the quality
and outcomes of care for a specific issue in a target population.
Identifies knowledge gaps, unknowns, missing information,
unanswered questions, or areas of uncertainty (where further
information could improve the evaluation).
4-
Evaluate the evidence and positions of others that are contrary
to a team's approach for improving the quality and outcomes of
care for a specific issue in a target population.
Passing Grade: Evaluates the evidence and positions of others
that are contrary to a team's approach to improving the quality
and outcomes of care for a specific issue in a target population.
Impartially responds to conflicting data and other perspectives
in a way that creates buy-in.
5-
Communicate an initial viewpoint regarding a specific issue in a
target population and a synthesis of existing positions in a
logically structured and concise manner, writing content clearly
with correct use of grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
Passing Grade: Communicates an initial viewpoint regarding a
specific issue in a target population and synthesis of existing
positions in a logically structured and concise manner, writing
content clearly with correct use of grammar, punctuation, and
spelling. Identifies specific strategies or approaches used to

12. ensure clear communication.
6-
Integrate relevant sources to support assertions, correctly
formatting citations and references using current APA style.
Passing Grade: Integrates relevant sources to support
assertions, correctly formatting citations and references using
current APA style. Citations are free from all errors.