The Role of Nurses in Policy-Making
Word cloud generators have become popular tools for meetings and team-building events. Groups or teams are asked to use these applications to input words they feel best describe their team or their role. A “word cloud” is generated by the application that makes prominent the most-used terms, offering an image of the common thinking among participants of that role.
What types of words would you use to build a nursing word cloud? Empathetic, organized, hard-working, or advocate would all certainly apply. Would you add policy-maker to your list? Do you think it would be a very prominent component of the word cloud
Nursing has become one of the largest professions in the world, and as such, nurses have the potential to influence policy and politics on a global scale. When nurses influence the politics that improve the delivery of healthcare, they are ultimately advocating for their patients. Hence, policy-making has become an increasingly popular term among nurses as they recognize a moral and professional obligation to be engaged in healthcare legislation.
Milstead, J. A., & Short, N. M. (2019). Health policy and politics: A nurse's guide (6th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Chapter 5, “Public Policy Design” (pp. 87–95 only)
Chapter 8, “The Impact of EHRs, Big Data, and Evidence-Informed Practice” (pp. 137–146)
Chapter 9, “Interprofessional Practice” (pp. 152–160 only)
Chapter 10, “Overview: The Economics and Finance of Health Care” (pp. 183–191 only)
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Congress.govLinks to an external site.. (n.d.).
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Sacristán, J., & Dilla, T. D. (2015). No big data without small data: Learning health care systems begin and end with the individual patientLinks to an external site.. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, 21(6), 1014–1017.
Tummers, L., & Bekkers, V. (2014). Policy implementation, street level bureaucracy, and the importance of discretionLinks to an external site.. Public Management Review, 16(4), 527–547.
Post an explanation of at least two opportunities that exist for RNs and APRNs to actively participate in policy-making. Explain some of the challenges that these opportunities may present and describe how you might overcome these challenges. Finally, recommend two strategies you might make to better advocate for or communicate the existence of these opportunities to participate in policy-making. Be specific and provide examples.
The Role of Nurses Policy-Making
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The Role of Nurses in Policy-Making
Nurses can significantly impact policy review since they must participate in legislation affecting their patients. When they analyze policies that enhance healthcare delivery, nurses actively advocate for their patients (Williams et al., 2019). Utilizing their employment to participate in policy review is one option for RNs and APRNs. By suggesting modifications to various programs at healthcare facilities, nursing practitioners can influence policy review at their places of employment. Nurses, whose primary responsibility is promoting good health, might suggest that policies that do not support giving patients high-quality care be reviewed, and they can also work to develop better policies (De Raeve, 2021). Since most nurses might not be sufficiently informed on the policies at their places of employment and the steps involved in proposing changes to these rules, this opportunity offers a challenge. Therefore, it is necessary to inform them of how policies are created and how they can suggest