Essay on The Need for Nurses to Engage in Political Involvement

A discussion regarding the health care reform or even health care in general can be somewhat controversial. The definition of health is drastically different depending on whom you speak to. Many would define health as " a person's absence of disease, others would describe good health based on the status of mind, body & social well-being" (GCU Lecture, module 2, 2012). According to The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, health is defined as "The overall condition of an organism at a given time". An individual's overall health affects the nation, this is where stakeholders come into value. According to Keele, Buckner & Bushnell a stakeholder is either an individual or an organization that either invest time and

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).

Nurses have the ability to have their voice received which can aid with change in health care by a number of ways, one of which is to become active within the community and advocate for nursing and advanced care for the public. One way this can be done is to influence legislators by becoming active in supporting health care bills.

In He and Mellor’s article, cuts in the Medicare payments would increase the amount of care provided to the uninsured by for-profit hospitals (He and Mellor, 2016). In the article, “How Much Do Hospitals Cost Shift?” Frakt explains that nonprofit and for-profit hospitals are in competition with each other. Nonprofit hospitals encourage for-profit hospitals to enhance trustworthiness and quality. For-profit hospitals persuade nonprofit hospitals to cut costs and become more efficient (Frakt,

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.

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

1. While the 2100 tax-exempt hospitals are heavily subsidized with over $12.6 billion in annual tax exemptions, what do many fail to do?

This case study addresses the accessibility of health care to all Americans. One of the biggest questions is if healthcare should be a "public good or a private privilege" (Pg. 239). Not every American has the opportunity to receive health insurance and consequently they incur high medical bills that often cannot be paid. In this case, Washington Memorial Hospital is facing bankruptcy and possible closure due to uninsured patients and unpaid medical treatments. In order to keep the hospital open, emergency funds must be accessed, health workers will have their salaries cut, and many employees will be laid off. People without health insurance often use public hospitals, and therefore these hospitals are in need of more financial support from the government.

This addressed ways in which the nurses could increase their participatory involvement in their professional community. One of the most telling facets of the meeting was the in depth discussion of key issues and challenges within the nurse force. Many issues broached during the meeting included ethical, emotional, relational and corporate concerns. The discourse on these pervasive problems served a few functional purposes. Firstly, they explained issues commonly faced by nurses, allowing people to find a sense of common ground. The communal dilemma among all nurses suddenly became evident, in spite of their differences in education or background. This served to advance and evolve the nurses as a whole, making them more empathetic contributors to the healthcare field.

The concept of providing basic healthcare services to individuals in need has undergone an agonizing transition, from a luxury once only afforded by the affluent to a basic human right granted to citizens of every economic station, and the recently enacted Affordable Care Act (ACA) was designed to finalize this ethical evolution. Reflecting perhaps the bitter political enmity currently consuming the nation's once cherished democratic process, Republican legislatures in states throughout the union have bristled at the ACA's primary provisions, threatening all manner of procedural protestation as they attempt to delay and derail the bill's eventual implementation. One of the most intriguing aspects of the sprawling, thousand page law, however, has been the stipulation that individual states will be given a choice to either accept federal funding to expand their statewide Medicaid roster, or to forfeit all federal funding for that program in perpetuity. The role of government in monitoring and regulating the healthcare industry has been long debated, and the bitterly contested passage of President Obama's ACA, a law aimed at revising the country's health insurance system through the creating of a federal health insurance exchange to facilitate increased competition among insurers, has rekindled the debate over who holds the ultimate responsibility for regulating the care provided by hospitals, community clinics, and private practices.

An average nurse can be involved in the political process by being an advocate for the patient through close involvement with the legislator and policymaker. The nurse can advocate on issues in which will result in an improvement of the outcome of the patient’s health. For example, the nurse can speak with the legislator concerning issues with having increased responsibilities with patient care and dealing with nursing shortage. The nursing shortage also brings a concern to the nurse with the new health care reform. The health care reform requires an individual to have insurance or they will have to pay a penalty fee. Most people would rather have insurance versus having to pay for the penalty fee. There may be some individuals in which who did not have insurance and they would put off their current health issues because of the lack of insurance. Now the individual has purchased health insurance as required by the new health care reform and there may be an increase number of people seeking health care treatment at the hospital. The number of patient’s seeking health care treatment increases, but there still remains an issue with staffing shortage. This is also an issue the nurse can present to their legislator or policymaker. “When nurses transition out of their comfort zone of patient care and into the arena of legislative advocacy, they can achieve a better health care system for themselves and their

As young American adults turn eighteen, they are reminded that it is their civic duty and responsibility to register to vote, to be aware of the current policies and to make educated decisions in the voting booth. As some of these young adults become active in the nursing profession, they are taught that their ultimate responsibility is to advocate for their patients; they are to ensure their safety and well-being. That being said, does this responsibility stop at the bedside? Should nurses take an active role in the policy making that directly affects the healthcare of their patients? Conn and Armer (2012) stated that “nurses must be prepared to use multiple and varied strategies to influence public policy so that optimal health outcomes can be achieved” (p. 296). This statement alone implies that nursing’s responsibility extends beyond direct patient care.

When people think about nurses, many ideas come to mind. They think of the hideous old starched, white uniforms, a doctor’s handmaiden, the sexy or naughty nurse, or a torturer. The media and society have manipulated the identity and role of nurses. None of these ideas truly portray nurses and what they do. Nurses are with the patients more than the doctors. People do not realize how little they will encounter the doctor in the hospital until they are actually in the hospital. People quickly realize how important nurses are. Because nurses interact with their patients constantly, nurses are the ones who know the patients best.

Advocacy is risky, in that other peers may disagree with the decision when addressing the good of individuals or the nurse may potentially lose their position. But being able to find a balance between the foreseeable risks and benefits involved when advocating for better conditions is what leads to a more effective patient care plan (Edelman, Mandle, & Kudzma, 2014, p. 111). In the novel “A Nurse’s Story” by Tilda Shalof (2015), a positive example of advocacy is demonstrated between a patient named Sylvie and a nurse named Tracy. Sylvie is on the top of the organ transplant list for a new lung, but needs oxygen at the moment because she is struggling to breathe. The nurses are put in a situation where she either gets a sedation and intubation but gets taken off the transplant list, or gets the sedation and intubation to help her breathe at the moment. Despite the repercussions of possibly jeopardizing Sylvie’s chance for a lung transplant and going against the doctor in charge’s disapproval, she still gave her a dose of morphine to ease her breathing. Tracy in this situation is a perfect example of an advocate nurse. There were so many risks involved, but she was able to put a whole picture together and add in her instinct to come up with a plan of action. The interpersonal interaction between Tracy and her patient previously enabled her to spend more time to connect with the patient to understand what she needs and how to solve this situation. Not only did the nurse-patient relationship help the patient and her family feel as though they are being cared for, but also helped them feel more motivated to open up to the nurse to achieve better satisfaction. As said in the novel, “it was a small thing, but it was a big thing to Sylvie and her mother” (Shalof, 2015, p.

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.