NURS 6050 Discussion The Role of the RN APRN in Policy Evaluation Sample<\/strong><\/h2>\nThere has been increasing growth toward nurses\u2019 presence, role and influence in health policies during recent years as the health systems are rapidly developing and changing. Nurses (RN\/APRN), as part of the healthcare delivery system should move forward along with these changes that for this reason, nurses need to influence the formulation of health policies rather than just mere implementation of these policies. They need to be active in the development of health policies to be better able to control their practice and they need to acquire policy-making skills in order to address professional challenges. By virtue of their values, professional ethics, advocacy skills and experiences, nurses have unique and valuable views toward health policies.<\/p>\n
Nurses are expected to identify the issues deliberately and work with other decision makers to advance health care policies. Therefore, we can say that nurses have to be involved in policies which affect patients, families, themselves and the whole health care system. Nurses\u2019 influence in health polices protects patient safety, increases quality of care and facilitates their access to the required resources and promotes quality health care.\u00a0By knowing how the political system works and which strategies can effectively influence policy, any nurse can become an advocate at the local, state or federal level.\u00a0Accordingly, the concept of policy influence in nursing is a new and important concept. Health systems policies settle within three levels: micro, macro and meso. In the micro level, policies are just for specific parts, fields, or groups, and have not been made essentially by the government, whereas in the macro level, policies are for the whole country and have been made essentially by the government. The meso level policies settle between micro and macro levels and have usually been made by official organizations.<\/p>\n
Nurses have the ability to affect health policies. This effect is impossible without the required knowledge of health care system as a whole. Nurses need to be aware of policy agenda, policy makers and political backgrounds. They are advocates for improvement of the quality of care, but many of them do not have adequate organizational and personal power for advocating patients\u2019 rights. In fact, for nurses to be in a state of empowering patients, it is first essential for them to be empowered. Their expertise, judgment and policy influence, all together help them to achieve their goals and to facilitate the professional process and the efficacy of health care system.<\/p>\n
Professional nursing organizations and other healthcare leaders from government and healthcare organizations call for nurses to engage in health policy leadership and advocacy to fulfill the social and ethical responsibilities of the profession. For example, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN, 2008) asserts that nurses have a moral and ethical responsibility to participate in the political process and advocate for patients, families, communities, the nursing profession and changes in the health care system as needed. The National League of Nursing (NLN, 2014) asserts that nurses have a role in shaping policy to assure patient access to safe, high-quality health care. The American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE, 2014) encourages nurses to be active in national policies on health and patient care issues due to the most recent developments in national health policy. The American Nurses Association (ANA) Code of Ethics (ANA, 2015) and the Social Policy Statement (ANA, 2010) explicitly articulate nurses\u2019 social and ethical roles and responsibilities pertaining to health policy. Three provisions from the Code of Ethics relate to the professional nurse\u2019s involvement in health policy formation, implementation and modification. The Social Policy Statement describes nursing\u2019s leadership role in public and political determinations about the health care resources, planning and regulations. Finally, the Institute of Medicine\u2019s (IOM, 2011) report, The Future or Nursing, calls on nurses to be full partners, with physicians and other health care professionals in redesigning health care in the United States.<\/p>\n
Many reasons for nurses\u2019 lack of involvement in policy making have been identified, such as lack of awareness, inadequate skills\u00a0\u00a0and little involvement\u00a0\u00a0due to the fact that\u00a0as direct caregivers, nurses spend more time with patients at the bedside\u00a0\u00a0than any other healthcare providers in other disciplines. Another challenge or barrier is the limited formal health care policy education in nursing.<\/p>\n
As early as the 1980s, majority of schools of nursing had incorporated health policy content into the curriculum, and nursing leaders stressed the importance of including health policy in nursing curricula (Andreoli et al.,1987). They argued that education was needed to increase nurses\u2019 political skills, involvement and competence of nursing\u2019s future leaders. (Rains & Carroll, 2000), to socialize students to think and act from the perspective of health policy and understand how they fit in the larger scheme of things (Choudhry & Callahan, 1993) and to provide nurses with a working knowledge of the process of health policy formulation, implementation, and modification. Recommendations for health policy curriculum content are readily available in nursing publications and from professional nursing accrediting organizations. The AACN has played a major role in ensuring that health policy is included in nursing curriculum. The AACN Essentials documents (AACN, 2006, 2008, 2011) call for nurses to achieve 12 health policy competencies at the baccalaureate level, 5 competencies at the master\u2019s level, and 7 competencies at the DNP level. The AACN Essentials documents contain a broad over- view and comprehensive list of health policy competencies, content and activities to be included at every stage of nursing education.<\/p>\n
By knowing how the system works and which opportunities or strategies can effectively influence policy, nurses (RN\/ APRN) can actively participate in policy making\u00a0\u00a0at the local, state, or federal level.\u00a0\u00a0They can make phone calls to elected representatives about bills under consideration, testify before committees, become involved in practice councils or boards at the workplace and even run for elected office.\u00a0There is strong consensus that nurses need to be more actively engaged in the health policy process. Although nurses\u2019 contributions to health policy have steadily increased over time and currently receive greater recognition by the general public, far too many health policies are developed without sufficient input by nurses (Richter et al., 2013).<\/p>\n
I propose an approach to health policy education in nursing based on stages of nursing professions political development (Cohen et al., 1996). With a staged approach to education, each level of education builds a foundation for the next. Content is introduced appropriate to the nurse\u2019s role at each level of education and begins with what is familiar and most accessible to the student. Beginning at the baccalaureate level, the focus of education is on organizational and local policies, progressing to state and regional policies at the master\u2019s level and culminating with federal health policies at the doctoral level. Aligning health policy content with clearly identified role expectations makes the content relevant. Also the skills gained at each level of education reinforce and are consistent with skills needed to participate in policy at that level. Staged curriculum content that is consistent with the roles for which nurses are educationally prepared expands expectations for students\u2019 participation in health policy at each level of governance. These stages reinforce the notion that political development, like other areas of development, is a process achieved over time. I propose also that health policy be a stand-alone course at each level of education and that it should be reinforced by integrating aspects of policy into other courses in the curriculum.<\/p>\n
Finally, I suggest that nursing faculty serve as role models based on their knowledge of and active engagement in health policies. Nursing faculty have a responsibility to facilitate students\u2019 political development by providing the content and learning activities to support student progress through the various stages of development, including political and policy knowledge acquisition and progressive development of skills in communication, advocacy, analysis, and research. Dr. Fauci is our professor this course, Policy and Advocacy for Improving Population Health, he brings his expertise about health policies. I learned so much from him especially when he reflects to my discussions. He helped his students understand the complicated process of health policies and\u00a0\u00a0building on the students\u2019 research skills, writing assignments based on research helps students bring together the key components of health policy making.<\/p>\n
With the master\u2019s degree in nursing program, we are encouraged to become active participants in the policy process, bringing issues to policymakers\u2019 attention and recommending alternate or amended policies to improve care to various state populations. Active participation in health policy involves legislative advocacy such as collaborating with policy makers or policy making bodies to gather support or influence the policy development process (Porche, 2012). Thus, graduates of master\u2019s degree nursing programs are able to influence the policy process and its development, implementation and evaluation (AACN, 2011).<\/p>\n