NURSE PARTICIPATION IN POLICYMAKING 2

Nurse Participation in Policymaking

RNs and APRNs have numerous opportunities to participate in healthcare
policymaking. Two of these opportunities are professional organizations and workplaces
(American Nurses Association). Professional organizations such as American Nurses
Association (ANA) and American Nursing Organization actively lobby for policies that are
likely to have a positive impact on healthcare quality. At their workplace, RNs and APRNs
have the opportunity to influence the policies of the healthcare facilities/institutions that they
work for with the goal of enhancing their conditions and patient experience.
While these opportunities allow nurses to influence policies affecting their profession,
they also bring challenges. One of them is time constraints (Huges, 2018). Taking up these
opportunities would leave nurses with little time to do their core work – taking care of
patients. Another challenge is lack of financial resources required to advocate for various
policy initiatives (Hughes, 2018). For instance, lobbying legislators to pass certain laws and
influencing public opinion in favor of the policies needs financial resources that nurses may
not have. These challenges can, however, be overcome. The time constraint barrier can be
overcome by seeking reduced workloads through shorter shifts while the financial constraints
can be overcome through aggressive search for funding from various individual and
institutional donors.
Thus, even though the challenges are formidable, they cannot stop nurses from taking
the lead in policymaking. Being on patient front lines, their input in healthcare policies is very
valuable (Patton et al., 2018). It is, therefore, important to communicate to nurses about
policymaking opportunities. One way in which this communication can be done is through
workshops for nurses. Another one is through nursing schools where nurses are trained.

NURSE PARTICIPATION IN POLICYMAKING 3

References

American Nurses Association (ANA). (n.d.). Advocacy. Retrieved September 20, 2018, from
https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/advocacy/
Hughes, V. (2018). What are the Barriers to Effective Nurse Leadership? A Review. Athens
Journal of Health
Patton, R. M., Zalon, M. L., & Ludwick, R. (Eds.). (2018). Nurses making policy: From bedside
to boardroom. Springer Publishing Company.