The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has now swung more fully into action as the first major deadline has come and gone.

As the ACA continues to become implemented more robustly, what responsibility do nurses carry vis-à-vis the education of our patients regarding the promises and challenges of this historic legislation?

Information is power

We all know that information is a form of power, and since nurses are indeed the most trusted professionals in the United States, we can be certain that many patients will turn to us for advice on navigating the ACA.

News outlets have reported widely about problems with the ACA website, and consumer fears have caused some Americans to postpone signing up for health insurance until a later date, despite the real threat of government-imposed fines for failing to be insured.

The government is trying to publish clear and concise information in order to cajole Americans to sign up, but even healthcare providers and insurers agree that the process can be an imposing one.

Information is power, but confusing or contradictory information can be most disempowering.

Nurses need to know

Anecdotally, many nurses have experienced great frustration when navigating the ACA process for themselves and their families, thus we can unfortunately feel as much in the dark as our patients who are eagerly looking to us for guidance.

One would hope that we nurses could use our critical thinking skills and knowledge of healthcare to more readily navigate the labyrinthine nature of the ACA, but anecdotal evidence may prove otherwise.

Nurses, like any other healthcare providers, also need health insurance (which is often not provided by our employers, mind you), so any information that we can glean from reliable sources will not only benefit us, but also our patients and their families.

Nurses as conduits of information

Having stated that nurses hold some collective and individual responsibility to educate our patients about the ACA, we must also recognize that nurses simply don't have time to learn all that needs to be known about this complicated process.

If we accept the premise that we have some responsibility but can't necessarily learn it all, perhaps we nurses can see ourselves as conduits of information rather than repositories.

A conduit is, by nature, something through which a substance passes, whereas a repository is a place where something is stored. Thus, savvy nurses can gather enough information about the ACA in order to be able to point patients in the right direction, while not necessarily having the exact wealth of information that patient needs at our own fingertips.

As conduits rather than repositories, nurses can simply choose to provide patients with information and facts that will lead them to websites, individuals and organizations that have the answers, taking us off the proverbial hook from feeling like we have to know it all.

After all, a conduit leads the seeker elsewhere, and a nurse who sees himself or herself as a conduit should feel no guilt for simply furnishing a patient with information that will lead the patient towards the goal of further knowledge. While nurses often like to have all the answers, perhaps punting to the ACA experts is in our best interest, in the end.

Cheerleaders point the way

We nurses want our patients to have access to high-quality healthcare, and we can be cheerleaders for the ACA if we so choose.

No matter how flawed the implementation of the ACA has appeared, it is indeed the law of the land, and nurses can serve as cheerleaders, pointing the way for patients to secure health insurance for themselves and their families, even as we question the so-called affordability of the plans on offer.

Of course, many nurses thrive on being the "one-stop shop" for patients' questions and concerns, but when something as complicated as the ACA comes along, there's nothing wrong with referring your patients elsewhere for the full story.

Nurses do indeed have a responsibility to know something about the ACA, but we can also let ourselves off that aforementioned hook. We can educate ourselves to whatever extent we are able, and when our patients do indeed ask for help, we can point them in the right direction and send them on their way. We must be fully cognizant that, while we’re not experts, we at least know where our patients can go to seek the expertise of those who can help them the most.

The ACA is a complicated beast, and it is not nurses' ultimate responsibility to tame that beast. Rather, we arm our patients with as many tools as we can, and we hope that other designated experts will assist them in taming the ACA beast in the interest of individual well-being and the collective good.