The Role of the RN/APRN in Policy-Making Discussion
The Role of the RN/APRN in Policy-Making Discussion
It is obvious that health care professionals play a pivotal role in policy introduction and policy-making in healthcare. Both RNs and APRNS, though operating under different scopes of practice, can advocate and push for fair, effective, and safer practices both for patient and nurse. Milstead & Short (2019) discuss professional state nursing associations having taken on increasingly important leadership roles to advocate for changes in reimbursement models and increasing scope of practice for APRNS. Milstead & Short (2019) also discuss labor unions advocating for RNs to improve staffing conditions that promote patient safety and help to preserve nursing excellence.
One opportunity is for RNs and APRNs to participate in professional nursing associations as organizations are able to persuade and levy policy-makers when it comes to providing professional expertise with experience and evidence-based practice data.
A second opportunity that both APRNs and RNs can do is build a social media following discussing issues and making suggestions for changes or improvements. Gayle Morris (2023) discusses the top ten ways for nurses to get involved in policy-making. A suggestion was building the social media platform, which I would not have initially thought of, but it is a great way to discuss and present ideas, concerns and issues in local, state and federal healthcare practices. However, research is crucial and presenting strong facts is important.
An example outcome of nurses being involved in policy-making is a decision North Carolina legislature made, as in discussed in Milstead & Short (2019), APRNs would not have to be supervised and could work under their full scope. The North Carolina Nurses Association and the Association of Nurse Anesthetists advocated for this change by discussing the economical benefit. However, currently, North Carolina is still a restrictive practice state for APRNs. A challenge that nurses are still fighting. Nurses must continue to be resilient and continue to advocate while staying up to date on legislature and remaining educated on policy changes.
Costa & Yakusheva (2016), discuss correlations between increased nursing staff and improved patient outcomes. The conflictual discussion presents an idea that increasing nursing staff to improve patient outcomes may be only beneficial to organizations that are financially equipped. This is where I believe the strength of numbers in nurses can make an impact on legislation despite financial disparities of healthcare organizations. Government funding is important. Knowing how tax dollars are being dispersed is also a must if nurses want to play a role in policy-making.
Costa, D. K., Yakusheva, O. (May 31, 2016) “Why Causal Inference Matters to Nurses: The Case of Nurse Staffing and Patient Outcomes” OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing Vol. 21, No. 2, Manuscript 2. https://doi.org/10.3912/OJIN.Vol21No02Man02
Gayle, M. (2023). 10 Ways Nurses Can Get Involved in Policy. Nurse Journal. Retrieved April 16, 2023, from, https://nursejournal.org/articles/ways-nurses-can-get-involved-in-policy/#:~:text=2%20%7C%20Attend%20Legislative%20Sessions
Milstead, J. A., & Short, N. M. (2019). Health policy and politics: A nurse’s guide (6th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Question Description
Discussion 2: The Role of the RN/APRN in Policy-Making
Word cloud generators have become popular tools for meetings and team-building events. Groups or teams are asked to use these applications to input words they feel best describe their team or their role. A “word cloud” is generated by the application that makes prominent the most-used terms, offering an image of the common thinking among participants of that role.
What types of words would you use to build a nursing word cloud? Empathetic, organized, hard-working, or advocatewould all certainly apply. Would you add policy-maker to your list? Do you think it would be a very prominent component of the word cloud?
Nursing has become one of the largest professions in the world, and as such, nurses have the potential to influence policy and politics on a global scale. When nurses influence the politics that improve the delivery of healthcare, they are ultimately advocating for their patients. Hence, policy-making has become an increasingly popular term among nurses as they recognize a moral and professional obligation to be engaged in healthcare legislation.
To Prepare:
Revisit the Congress.gov website provided in the Resources and consider the role of RNs and APRNs in policy-making.
Reflect on potential opportunities that may exist for RNs and APRNs to participate in the policy-making process.
Post an explanation of at least two opportunities that exist for RNs and APRNs to actively participate in policy-making.Explain some of the challenges that these opportunities may present and describe how you might overcome these challenges. Finally, recommend two strategies you might make to better advocate for or communicate the existence of these opportunities to participate in policy-making. Be specific and provide examples.
Resources:
https://www.congress.gov/
You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.
Click here to ORDER an A++ paper from our Verified MASTERS and DOCTORATE WRITERS: The Role of the RN/APRN in Policy-Making Discussion
Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.
Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.
The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.