Nursing Self-Reflection

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

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

After utilizing the Political Astuteness Inventory (Yoder-Wise, 2011, p. 184), I found that my political astuteness score is 21, which indicates that I have “beginning political astuteness/self-interest to political sophistication” (Yoder-Wise, 2011, p. 184). I’ve been a member of the American Nurses Association (ANA) ever since I graduated nursing school in 2010; however, I’ve never attended any national or state convention, primarily because of my time availability and monetary funding. Nonetheless, I’m cognizant of the latest news and issues on nursing and health in general through my subscriptions to American Nurse Today, ANA SmartBrief, ANA Government Affairs, and The Pelican News. I believe that to expand my awareness and bolster my influence,

Political awareness refers to sensitivity to public policy and government and an awareness of any possible agenda that could be driving politicians. In order for nursing to advance as a profession, nurses need to broaden their socio-political knowledge by speaking out on issues, influencing legislation, and participating in policy-making boards and councils. By becoming involved and politically aware, nurses can help face societies major issues. Consequently, political awareness is essential for the advocacy of the profession (Marquis & Huston, 2015).

Moreover, the nurses role is no longer static, it is dynamic. Previously they could not effect any policy change but today the sky is their limit. They can do that at local, state, community, or even national levels. In doing so they have to collaborate with other health professions, look at what others have done, see how successful they have been and give them credit for the work they did. From here they can improve on the work of their predecessors as well as add to the integrity of the profession.

There are three major organizations in nursing that have made great impacts on the way nurses guide and represent their profession. One of the organizations is the American Nurses Association (ANA) whose mission statement is “nurses advancing our profession to improve health for all” and their philosophy is committed to ensure that there are an adequate supply of “high-skilled and well-educated nurses is available” (ANA, 2014). The ANA helps to advance the nursing profession through fostering high standards, the promotion of the general welfare of nursing professionals in the workplace, projecting a positive as well as realistic view of nursing practices, and lobbying within Congress about health care issues that affect both nurses and the general public (ANA, 2014). The ANA is primarily responsible for restructuring healthcare through legislature and lobbying on both state and national levels (ANA, 2014).

Today more so than ever, nurses must not only advocate for themselves and their patients at the organizations and facilities that they work at, but they must now advocate on a much larger political stand. It is imperative that nurses stay up-to-date on what is happening locally, statewide, and nationwide as this has a direct impact on nurses, their organizations they serve, and the patients they passionately care for each day. Due to the sheer number of nurses, it is no wonder that this workforce can and could be a fierce force to be reckoned with. However, having large numbers is not all that is needed. According to Abood (2007), " Successful policy advocacy depends on having the power, the will, the

The roles of the advance practice nurse (APN) in health policy today, are vast. APNs tend to have a deeper understanding of how current health policies directly effects their role in healthcare and their patients. In a research article by Primomo and Björling (2013), it was found that education is a key factor in influencing nurses to become politically involved in healthcare politics. Due to differences in curriculum, nurses without an advanced degrees have less exposure to the political involvement of healthcare workers.

In reading through various journal articles on the subject, I see how important it is for nurses to get involved in the political process. Nurses can sometimes get so focused on their job of taking care of their patients, that they fail to get involved with political matters. Nurses are great at advocating for their patients but many of them are just not prepared to voice their concerns publicly about staffing and funding shortages and also for patient’s safety (O'Connor, 2014). Nurses do have a lot of potential in contributing to the political process by participating in professional nursing organizations or through policy committees in the workplace. “To be successful

​The chosen public policy issue is the ongoing effort within nursing to advance the field through taking action. In this case, action takes four distinct activities: advocacy, policy, learning as a lifelong process and involvement in philanthropy. This action can be applied through community-based participatory research which is a research partnership seeking the involvement of all members of the community. Under this approach, all participants contribute their knowledge to the process in an effort to better the quality of life in that community members (Israel et al., 2008). It is because there are so many under-served populations and in under-serving these populations nursing fails to live up to its professional and this is a policy change that must be made. This issue of public policy, that is, the issue of the prevalence of under-served populations which clearly requires changing, and the role that nursing can play in this public policy process is discussed at length in Burkhardt and Nathaniel (2013).

The health care system is in trouble and according to Abood (2007), in need of immediate change. As a nurse myself, I acknowledge that some legislations compromise the quality of health care delivery by nurses and success rate of patients due to burnout. It is important for me to be an advocator for my fellow nurses and health care providers and to the best of my ability work to amend these legislations. Abood (2007), argued that “successful policy advocacy depends on having the power, the will, the time, and the energy, along with the political skills needed to ‘play the game’ in the legislative arena”. I will discuss the different ways I would persuade a legislator to work towards better nursing laws.

The initiative to pursue the nursing profession to its highest degree (DNP) is to broaden my cognitive and practical

American Nurses Association. (2013). Making a Difference and Let Your Voice be Heard. Retrieved from www.nursingworld.org/

Nurses have a strong say in what direction their profession is headed. More nurses are filling leadership roles in the healthcare profession every year. No one plays a more critical role in developing the capacity and capability for professional advocacy than do nursing educators who model advocacy behaviors in both education and practice standards. (Tomajan, 2013) Nursing educators seize the opportunity to apply their leadership skills and help create a better image of nursing, by creating nurses who apply their knowledge to everyday activities, which results in a better patient experience and a less