Going, going, gone: nurses in policy-making positions at WHO.
A health policy resource guide for nurses. The 2015 national nursing workforce survey. 2016.īudden JS, Moulton P, Harper KJ, Brunell ML, Smiley R. Brokaw is a wound and ostomy specialist at Tampa General Hospital in Tampa, Florida.Īmerican Nurses Association. After all, healthcare legislation ultimately affects us all. Finally, employers need to provide staff nurses with the time, resources, and opportunities to influence local, state and federal policy. Furthermore, the faculty of nursing schools should also participate in policy changes, thereby acting as role models for their students. Nursing schools need to include healthcare policy education as part of the curriculum, as well as encourage some level of political involvement from nursing students. Families and friends of nurses need to encourage political activism. However, nurses need support in order to effect change. Perhaps they will even bring more political activism. They bring more energy, more ideas, and more ingenuity to the nursing profession. Additionally, the nurses of today are younger, more educated, and more diverse. Marquis and Huston define politics as “the art of using legitimate power wisely.” The nursing profession has significant power to profoundly impact healthcare policy on a global scale. And nurses can even run for state office - there are two nurses currently serving in the Florida State Legislature.Īs Oestberg so succinctly points out, “If nurses don’t stand up for issues that are important to us, those with competing interests in healthcare may be the only ones whose voices are heard.” By joining their voices together, American nurses can influence the policy and politics that affect healthcare. Nurses can undertake internships with elected officials to personally work on matters affecting healthcare. Nurses can also write their state representatives regarding healthcare policy. These organizations often have lobbyists that bring nursing issues to Capitol Hill.
#Levels in politicats professional
And something as simple as exercising the right to vote can impact healthcare policy.Īt the state and federal level, nurses can get involved in policy and politics by joining a professional nursing organization. Nurses can obtain formal training in politics, become involved in city councils and committees, or even run for local office. Locally, nurses can become politically active by assuming leadership positions in the healthcare system or contacting elected officials about legislation affecting the industry. The truth is, any nurse can influence policy and politics at the local, state, and federal levels. As Oestberg states, “As nurses, we need to think of policy as something we can influence, not just something that happens to us.” Instead, nurses should channel their frustrations into making a positive difference in their profession. This frustration often leads to negativity, disillusionment, bitterness, and burn-out. For this to happen, nurses must be skilled in patient care as well as in interdisciplinary teamwork, informatics and technology, implementing evidence-based practice, and quality improvement.Īll too often, nurses become frustrated by policies affecting nursing practice, particularly when those policies are written by individuals with limited healthcare knowledge and experience. But in order to do so, they will need to partner with members of other medical professions such as physicians. As the largest medical profession in the world, nurses should be leading the way in redesigning the healthcare system. Regardless of the multiple factors limiting the nursing profession’s potential impact on politics, the fact remains that nurses are vital to the development and implementation of healthcare policy. Additionally, studies show that nurses are not given sufficient support to generate the evidence needed to influence healthcare policy. Time and resources are further obstacles to the nursing profession’s participation in politics. Another barrier is the limited formal health care policy education in nursing. Lack of awareness, inadequate skills, and little opportunity for involvement are just a few factors. There are several reasons for the limited nursing participation in policy and politics. Unfortunately, nurses have historically had little involvement in policy that affects healthcare delivery. When nurses influence the politics that improve the delivery of healthcare, they are ultimately advocating for their patients.
In fact, it is the moral and professional obligation of nurses to be engaged in legislation that impacts their patients. As such, nurses have the potential to profoundly influence policy and politics on a global scale. Nursing is the largest medical profession in the world with nearly 4 million nurses in the United States alone.
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