DQ Discuss how professional nursing organizations support the field of nursing and how they advocate for nursing practice
NRS 430 Topic 5 DQ 1
Topic: Lobbying and Million Nurse March
Review the Institute of Medicine’s 2010 report “The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health.” Write a 750‐1,000 word paper discussing the influence of the IOM report on nursing practice. Include the following:
- Summarize the four messages outlined in the IOM report and explain why these are significant to nursing practice.
- Discuss the direct influence the IOM report has on nursing education and nursing leadership. Describe the benefits and opportunities for BSN‐prepared nurses.
- Explain why it is important that a nurse’s role and education evolve to meet the needs of an aging and increasingly diverse population.
- Discuss the significance of professional development, or lifelong learning, and its relevance in caring for diverse populations across the life span and within the health‐illness continuum.
- Discuss how nurses can assist in effectively managing patient care within an evolving health care system.
As we discuss our professional organizations and advocacy for our nursing practice, often, organized events bring groups of individuals together for a cause. This week, the Million Nurse March is taking place in Washington, D.C. to advocate for safe practice. Many of our professional organizations will support these efforts. Have any of you had the opportunity to attend a lobbying session to support or decline support for a healthcare legislation? The process is quite interesting to be a part of if you have not had an opportunity.
I have not yet participated in something like this. However, as I am learning more about political entities shaping parts of the profession I chose, I become more intrigued about being involved. Some of the issues in the march are very similar to the ones currently on my union’s negotiation table for the new hospital contract.
The most prominent topic is the recent one about the pay cap. I’m going to go out on a limb and see if I get this right, but you have to be kidding me. This domino effect started with the hospital’s inefficient management and investment of nurses during a raging pandemic. The hospitals invest in themselves, not the patients or the people who care for them. We got furloughed when the surgeries got canceled, and they needed to keep up with the profit margins. Then when everyone and their mother got sick, we had to work extra to make up for it, have unsafe patient ratios, which through patients and us in even more danger, and work in the worst conditions. Nurses got tired of being treated like garbage. So many went to travel. At least that money was worth the crap hospitals put us through. Then the hospitals are saying travel agencies make too much profit. Free market people, supply and demand. Do you hear that? It’s the dominos coming down the road, full circle. If they would of cared and invested in their staff and not the profits of themselves and stakeholders they would of had nurses to staff their hospitals.
So, If I could be there to do a march, I would. The topic of workplace violence is on the docket for our new contract. The hospital I currently work had a huge fall out with racial discrimination and workforce violence not being address. They attempted and got away with some of it but stated we didn’t de-escalate the situation appropriately, and it’s our fault it happened to us. No, sir, workplace violence is unacceptable on all levels, period. This was a huge ordeal, and many nurses left because of it. Experiencing this firsthand and knowing the hospital did not support us confirms the feeling of being indispensable, not valued and not a collaborative team. This is why I support my union in the fight against these issues.
If I wasn’t taking a super fast pace class, or wasn’t sick as snot right know, I could see myself down their marching.
If the hospital and the Union can’t reach an agreement in June I might be striking if it comes to it. Watch the news, you might see me.
Thank you so much for the great depth to your discussion. Activism and advocacy are essential if nursing is to continue to evolve and to earn what is deserved. You bring up great current information regarding the pay cap for travel nurses.
I have attended local seminars and symposiums. This gave me a chance to interact with nurses from other locations. We had fruitful discussions and meetings.
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I have not had the opportunity to participate in any kind of lobbying session for healthcare but I have for other legislative issues. I will say, it does give one a sense of being a part of a bigger voice, that can be heard! It is so important in these times to be involved and I do foresee myself getting out there more, especially on a state level. Any time I went, I always learned something new and met people who could definitely make a difference.
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Thank you, Stephanie for sharing your experiences with lobbying. There is an energy for sure when these events occur.
I have not yet had a chance to be a apart of any sort of march or advocation for any type of health care legislation. I think that I would really like to be a part of something like this because of how passionate I am about nursing and safe nursing practices and work environments. I recently had the opportunity to watch my mother who is a nurse of 32 years stand on her picket line during a large union strike at Stanford Hospital in Northern California, where they were fighting for better treatment in the workforce. They were able to strike and get a good contractual agreement between the hospital and the union and thus they feel better about the environment in which they work in hand they can provide better patient care. Overall, in my opinion I think it is so important to stand up and have a voice in your profession in order to help create progressive change toward a better future for all of those involved.
Thank you for sharing. With over 4 million nurses in the United States, we have the potential to be a collectively large voice. Our challenge is that we do not come together as a group, which weakens our voice.
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I have not yet been apart of a lobbying session; however after learning so much already, I want to become involved. This week has already been so enlightening for me. Learning about various nursing associations already has me intrigued and wanting to be apart of the action. I am looking into a few associations to join while becoming more involved in the one I am apart of, Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal (AWHONN). I am interested in the Million Nurse March and have a passion for nurse safety and safe practice. The March, taking place on May 12, 2022, will be raising awareness of nurse violence and unsafe nursing-patient ratios. Nurses are looking for protection when they are physically or verbally harmed by a patient (Davis, 2022). Even before the recent pandemic, Nurses were in high demand; and now, nurses are in dire need. The increase in nurse-patient ratio were forced on the nursing profession putting them out of standards throughout the country. The change is needed and must include a nurse-patient ratio that is safe for both the nurse and the patient.
Carol Davis. (2022, February 17). Nurses’ March on Washington Planned to Address Workplace Violence and other ‘Serious Issues’. https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/nursing/nurses-march-washington-planned-address-workplace-violence-and-other-serious-issues
Hello
I have not had the opportunity to attend a lobbying session. I believe the session would be informative especially as we celebrate the Nurses’ week. There is no better time than now for everyone to support a healthcare legislation to advocate for safe practice.
There is so much on my plate at the time. I should look forward to being a part of this movement the next time.
I am glad you will try to become involved the next event.
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Organizations such as the American Nurses Association have goals of bettering health care practice and standards and also a goal of representing nurses and supporting them in the profession. Professional nursing organizations want to make the environment for the professionals good in turn helping to make the patient care/ outcomes good. Professional nursing organizations are responsible for the development and certification of nurses interested in improving health care and providing safe quality nursing care. Through participation in professional organizations, nurses can actively contribute to legislative changes that can affect patient care and the way they conduct their work (Helbig 2018). Nursing organizations advocate for nursing practice through publicly and legislatively outlined rules and regulations that depict standards of practice, this helps nurses have a written guideline for their profession, it helps to outline the directive of what is ok to do as a nurse.
In turn this protects the nurse and advocates for the nurse as well as keeps the nurse in the educated and in the know so they can protect their license by practicing within their scope. The standards of practice describe a competent level of nursing practice demonstrated by the critical-thinking model known as the nursing process (Bickford, Marion, & Gazaway, 2015). ANA is an organization that supports the nurse, they have the goal in advocating for the nurse and raising awareness to problems that are being faced in the nursing profession. Organizations like The International Council of Nurses realize that nurses are front line with patients and understand that they are leaders in the medical field, they spend a vast amount of time at the bedside with abilities to collect real time data, they are educators as well as administrators. This gives nurses a lot of power and legislators look to nurses as leaders to help with policy. Being at the bedside gives the nurse the unique ability to report back to policy makers about what is working and what is not working in lieu of patient safety and patient centered care. “The International Council of Nurses is a federation of national nursing associations that works to enable nurses to speak with one voice so as to influence health policy and advance the profession of nursing” (Benton, 2012). Safe staffing, nursing workforce development (pushing nurses to obtain higher levels of education such as a BSN) and safe patient handling have been topics that the ANA has advocated for in the nursing arena as well as many more areas, these relate directly back to overall bettering the environment in order to create overall better patient outcomes.
The role of professional nursing organizations is huge in the development of nursing practice. It can be argued that without professional nursing organizations nursing would not be where it is now. It provided nurses with the ability to combine together and advocate for the right causes. It has made it possible for nursing to develop into one of the most trusted professions in the nation. For example, professional nursing organizations give nurses the resources they to engage in networking. Networking allows nurses to share valuable knowledge and skills. Without professional nursing organizations, nurses would not have such opportunities for networking, and that would severely stunt the growth of nursing (Goolsby & Knestrick, 2017). One nurse alone may not be enough to bring about a positive change. However, thousands of nurses can be quite the powerful political force. That makes it more likely for nurses to engage in advocacy and activism for the patients. That is why organizations such as the American Nurses Association have been involved with some of the most prominent legislations relating to the American healthcare system (Sepasi et al., 2017). In other cases, the professional organizations make it possible to prevent passage of harmful legislation. Either way, there can be little doubt that professional nursing organizations are a huge boon for nursing, especially in terms of advocacy and activism.
Sepasi, R. R., Borhani, F., & Abbaszadeh, A. (2017). Nurses’ perception of the strategies to gaining professional power: A qualitative study. Electronic Physician, 9(7), 4853–4861.
Goolsby, M. J., & Knestrick, J. M. (2017). Effective professional networking. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 29(8), 441–445. https://doi.org/10.1002/2327-6924.12484
Professionally organized groups are a group of like-minded people who have come together to provide support for nurses in their workplace. These organizations place an emphasis on wellbeing, safety, and overall health of the nurse. These organizations also lobby on behalf of nurses and healthcare professionals to give nurses in their community a voice and help make necessary the changes for all nurses (Houskova, 2022). These organizations come together and advocate for changes in policies and laws about significant health issues that affect nurses and the general public. The overall goal for all nursing organizations is to protect the nurses, better nursing care for the patients, and improve healthcare for all by fostering the best nursing practices. The different organizations advocate for nurses and stay up to date on current bills in legislation by studying evidence-based practice, attending conferences and meetings, forming coalitions and consistently making their concerns heard.
The American Nurses Association was started with only 20 nurses and is now considered one of the largest nursing organizations, which is responsible for setting the standard of care for many of the nursing practices used today (Helbig, 2018). When many nurses come together in these organizations, their thoughts, opinions and values are listened to by the board of nursing and legislation to formulate the nursing practices we know today. There is great power in numbers, and becoming a member of any of these organizations will help the nurse stay up to date on current events and proposals in healthcare, as well as ensure the nurse has the proper training and continuing education needed to stay current with the best nursing practices. During nursing school, our professors highly encouraged all nurses students to join an organization of their choice and become an active member of that group to help be the change and voice we need in healthcare.
Reference List
Houskova M. Nurse leaders and advocacy: Safeguarding nurses’ scope of practice and the profession. American Nurse Today. 2022;17(1):42. Accessed May 9, 2023. https://search-ebscohost-com.lopes.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=154779028&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Helbig, J. (2018). Professional engagement. In Grand Canyon University (Eds.), Dynamics in nursing: Art & science of professional practice (1st ed.). https://lc.gcumedia.com/nrs430v/dynamics-in-nursing-art-and-science-of-professional-practice/v1.1/#/chapter/5