Strategies to Increase Participation in Health Care Policy Making

Healthcare policies are integral in enhancing the delivery of effective clinical
procedures to the patients. The policies provide guidelines that the nurses must follow when
attending to patients. This means that these guidelines directly impact the employee working
environment and productivity since the primary focus is on the quality of performance.
Stakeholder participation in healthcare policymaking is paramount in developing sound clinical
procedures that will improve the care delivered to the patients. However, the lack of access to
information on policymaking, advocacy, and politics makes it difficult for nurses to be involved
in crucial decision-making (Lewinski & Simmons, 2018). The nurses are equipped with
knowledge and skills that could be useful in decision-making concerning healthcare policies and
reforms since they are the front-line workers and significant implementers of the same policies.

The first strategy to encourage the participation of nurses in policymaking is through
customized training programs. This will provide the nurses with in-depth information on the
political processes, stages of policy reviews, and sources for resources that can be used to
improve the quality of health of their patients (Lewinski& Simmons, 2018). Indeed, politics and
policy are essential to reforms in delivering quality care to the population. At the same time, the
policies also affect nurses’ working environment and their desire for career progression (Rafferty,
2018).

Secondly, umbrella bodies such as nursing associations and organizations should enhance
partnership in policy making by sharing information to their members or sponsoring them to
develop policy documents that can influence decision-making (Turale & Kunaviktikul, 2019). It
is upon the regulation agencies, nurse leaders as well as educators to have a positive mindset
about policy development and purpose to come up with health facets for implementation as well
as lobby for policy training and analysis for nurses throughout the region, as documented by
Sundean et al., (2018). For example, the nursing education board may propose a change in
curriculum to include policy frameworks in various health disciplines.
Similarly, employees should provide a continuous education program for nurses to access
policy training on-site, online platforms, employee forums, and mentorship classes (Hajizadeh et
al., 2021). I believe that capacity building will enable me to participate in policymaking because
I can access important information at various levels of nursing education. Simulation procedures
will also help me understand the importance of policy and advocacy in improving staff working
conditions and delivering quality care to the patients. This can be done by teaching lower levels
of policy making at the undergraduate level, such as introduction to policy making and then
progressing to more complex concepts such as policy making, policy review, and advocacy, and
higher levels of learning such as masters and doctorate. As such, the policy framework may be
incorporated into the curriculum as a course on its own or as a unit that is instrumental to the
nursing career.

References

 Hajizadeh, A., Zamanzadeh, V., Kakemam, E., Bahreini, R., & Khodayari-Zarnaq, R. (2021).
Factors influencing nurse’s participation in the health policymaking process: a systematic
review. BMC nursing, 20(1), 1-9.

Lewinski, A. A., & Simmons, L. A. (2018). Nurse knowledge and engagement in health
policymaking: Findings from a pilot study. The Journal of Continuing Education in
Nursing, 49(9), 407-415.
Rafferty, A. M. (2018). Nurses as change agents for a better future in health care: the politics of
drift and dilution. Health Economics, Policy, and Law, 13(3-4), 475-491.
Sundean, L. J., Polifroni, E. C., Libal, K., & McGrath, J. M. (2018). The rationale for nurses on
boards in the voices of nurses who serve. Nursing Outlook, 66(3), 222-232.
Turale, S., & Kunaviktikul, W. (2019). The contribution of nurses to health policy and advocacy
requires leaders to provide training and mentorship. International nursing review, 66(3),
302-304.