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How Nurses Can Impact Health Policy Decisions Healthcare policy has a significant impact on the healthcare system in terms of improving access to care as well as making healthcare affordable and accessible for everyone. Nursing professionals are at the frontline in advocating for specific policies that are aimed at improving the health care system for better outcomes. Nurses influence health care policy and seek to leverage experience and position into greater roles of advocating for better health care services. Nurses influence health care policy through their role in healthcare delivery as the largest health professionals in the United States. In this effect, the discourse addressed the strategies that staff nurses can use to collect and share evidence that could impact health policy decisions.
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Nurses can influence policies by collecting and sharing evidence in health care by taking part in politics at the local, state, and federal levels. At the local level, nurses can become politically active by taking up leadership positions in the local health care system as well as contacting their elected officials about legislation affecting the industry. Nurses can engage in health care policy formulation by seeking formal training in politics, being actively engaged in legislative and city council committees as well as running for local office (Arabi et al., 2014). On the other hand, strategies such as voting and lobbying others to backup leaders who are advocating for health care are imperative in advocating for safety and quality access to healthcare for all. Further, at the state and federal level, nurses can take an active role in politics and policy formulation by joining professional nursing organizations. As noted by Brokaw (2016), such organizations are mostly comprised of lobbyists who bring health matters to the attention of Congress. Besides, nurses can write to their state representatives regarding healthcare policy as well as undertake internships with elected representatives to closely work with them in highlighting the plight of the population in terms of access to quality, safe and affordable health care for all. Therefore, nurses liaise with their locally elected leaders to identify health care issues that need immediate action to achieve better outcomes. Nurses can also collect and share evidence that could impact health policy decisions by engaging in empirical clinical studies and disseminating their findings to relevant bodies for implementation. Largely, initiatives to improve health care are focused on the integration of evidence-based findings to enhance health outcomes for the population (Brokaw, 2016). Therefore, nurses play an active role in undertaking clinical studies and disseminating the
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findings and knowledge with colleagues and relevant authorities identifying a practice problem that should be addressed. From the foregoing, it is evident that nurses comprise the largest percentage of healthcare professionals and play a significant role in collecting and disseminating evidence that could be used in influencing health policy decisions. Nurses play an advocacy role by lobbying for policies that support health care challenges they have identified in the practice setting. Therefore, their engagement in political lobbying, disseminating research, and serving as representatives in professional nursing organizations is imperative in improving health outcomes for the population The nurse serves as patient as well as community advocates who seek to influence improvements in the provision of care.
References Arabi, A., Rafii, F., Cheraghi, M. A., & Ghiyasvandian, S. (2014). Nurses’ policy influence: A concept analysis. Iranian Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Research, 19(3), 315. Brokaw, J. J. (2016). The nursing profession’s potential impact on policy and politics. American Nurse Today. 1-12