Civic Responsibility in Nursing

Nursing is defined as the promotion, protection and the prevention of illness and Injury, the treatment of a patient’s disease or diseases, the patient’s response to a disease, as well as one big thing that nurses are known for, and that is being a patient’s advocate nursing has been one of the fastest growing fields since the 1990’s (Mueller et al.,2012). Advocacy is defined as an action in which a person speaks out, argues a cause, supports and defends on the behalf of others. I believe that the role of being a patient advocate is one of the most important things a nurse can do because there are many patients that cannot speak on their behalf, I believe that it is up to the nurses to be those patients as well as all patient’s voices (Mueller et al., 2012).

Nurses’ involvement in policy debates brings our professional values to bear on the process. (Warner, 2003) The Master’s prepared nurse’s goal as an advocate should be to fight to enhance the client’s wellbeing in every possible way, at every available opportunity. This can be achieved by being part of organization that advocate for patients’ right as well as for better working condition for our colleagues. Also, nurses could choose to get involved in politics or lobby on behalf of other nurses.

Nurses are the first to deal with patients such as, the aging population in the clinical or community setting, so they are well qualified to give expert testimony on health care reform. Before nurses can take a stance and gain a voice in the political arena, they must take on a new hat as an “advocate.” They can start their journey as a patient advocate by joining an association like The American Nurses Association (ANA). Associations like the ANA can mentor nurses venturing into the profession of patient advocacy; in addition to mentoring, the nursing associations can offer legislative days, policy internships, and conduct policy workshops to educate nurses on how to positively affect the legislation and policies at the state or federal level on health care

The four spheres of political action in nursing as mentioned by Mason, Leavitt, and Chaffee (2011) includes the workplace or workforce, the government, the organizations, and the community. The authors further stated that although the four spheres overlap at times, the action performed in any one of these spheres can cause a reaction in any of the others. Nurses are a part of the community in which they live and can influence health and social policy within their workplace, which can have a profound impact on the organization. Furthermore, the government can pass health care policies, which in turn causes the organization to change their policy. Thus, affecting healthcare providers in the workplace and the community at large. An example of

Who better to help discover research and help implement changes to healthcare issues than the nurse on a working level. I understand the uncertainty that nurses feel when having to advocate change as our textbook and other sources have reported, Education about policy, advocacy, politics should be initiated during the education process in the nursing schools, if this occurs the graduating nurse is very comfortable with the policy and politics policy and she will make a difference. This process should be consistently addressed in the work place. (Milstesd 2016). The Future of Nursing Report by the IOM states that “Nurses should be full partners redesigning health care. I strongly agreed with this statement, how many times has a new policy or change has been implemented that wasn’t beneficial for patient or you as the nurse. When nurses seek out to identify problems or issues of concern, take an active political role, to make a difference in the policy making process, we will finally see real change occur in health

When completing the Political Astuteness Inventory, my results were 12. This meant I was Slightly more aware of the implications of the politics of nursing. I was not completely surprised by this result but I was rather disappointed. I grew up in a household where my parents taught the importance of what is happening around you politically. The main reason I wasn’t surprised though was because of the fact that I have not lived full-time in my voting district in the last three years. This information is important so I can correctly assess my political astuteness so that I can be aware of issues that are going to affect me and my patient. Ways I can approve my astuteness can include going to more state meetings and looking up my particular state representatives to understand their views on

The practice of nursing is focused on patient safety, quality of care, and better patient outcomes. The four spheres of political action in nursing are the workplace, government, professional organization and community (Mason, Gardner, Outlaw, & O'Grady, 2016). Each of these spheres functions independently but they are very much interconnected to create change. First, the workplace sphere focuses on job issues as well as patient care. Second, the government sphere focuses on laws and regulations regarding nursing practice.

This assignment requires that I develop and thoroughly analyze a public policy in order to advocate for one that improves the health of the public and/or the nursing profession globally (local, state, national or international). To do this, I must reflect on several aspects of being a policy maker within the nursing profession. I was instructed to consider the following:

Many would not think that nursing and politics would make good collaborators. However, nurses approach politics similar to developing a care plan for patients. We identify the problem, implement a plan and evaluate (PIE). The director of the legislative committee shared an analysis process used to establish policy priorities and to accomplish change. This process is discussed in Mason et al. (2014): (a) identify the problem; (b) list proposed solutions; (c) know the history or background of the previous challenges to resolve

Nurses have many Roles to play to become An efficient health worker to speak for patients and the people. International council of nurses (2008). According to Begley, A. (2010). Nurses must learn how to be a political member to influence the legislatures by writing letters, attending meetings, speaking up for their patients’ problems and suggesting solutions in order to make better the quality health care especially for the veterans, patients their families and colleagues.

As nurses we strive to always practice in the best of our ability. One way that that we can further our efforts is to utilize our voice through health-care lobbying. The best approach to health-care lobbying is to first understand the legislative process. Consequently the purpose of this paper is to distinguish the legislative process as well as convey the benefits of health-care lobbying to not only the workers but the patients.

There has been a pandemic apathy towards political activism among the nursing fraternity, despite the fact that politics to a greater extent affects the way these medical practitioners carry out their duty of providing care. Nurses have not seen any reason for political involvement citing that no direct relationship exists between nursing and political activism (Boswell, Canon and Miller 5). They claim that nursing is about application and service, demonstration by involvement and more of ‘walking the walk’ rather than the political ‘talking the talk’ (Rains and Barton-Kriese 219). Political activism to them is a waste of the precious time that could be used to provide healthcare to

Political activism is an important complement for nurses in the clinical practice. Nurses are in an exceptional position not only to provide quality bed side care to their patients but also to advocate for change within the community and political field. Common problem affecting a group of people can be a political issue. Identifying the cause of this issue and advocating to solve the root cause with the help of decision makers like politicians, hospital executives, managers or government bureaucrats, nurses can bring beneficial changes in Canadian Health care system.

Health professionals have obligations in regards of protection, promotion and optimization of health abilities to prevent from illness. It helps to guide in focusing the normal principals of care and justice and also motivates certain civic action. Social responsibility is “strongly linked to the values of professions in general and nursing in particular” and that “the underlying constructs of social responsibility, communication and teamwork are woven into the fabric of nursing 's history and its code of ethics”(Kelley,2008). Communication, social responsibility and teamwork, are an integral part of the nursing profession. These three attributes of the profession comes through citizenship. This essay will

Healthcare Reform has been and still is a highly debated controversial political issue in this country. It has been a hot topic of past presidential campaigns, with many proposed solutions, none of which were enacted upon by Congress. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed in 2010. This law or Obamacare, as it is commonly called, was designed to cover the 48 million Americans, including about 1 million in New Jersey who did not have health insurance. It is envisioned to provide seamless, affordable, quality care that is accessible to all. Great emphasis will be placed on transforming our current “sick care” hospital system into a community “health care” system of prevention and health promotion. This paper discusses the evolving and future roles of nurses under the new system. It also examines the proposals of a joint committee made up of members of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), as an initiative to help nurses in their new leadership roles to a healthier nation.