Nurse Leader Advocacy

By Dr. Jane McCurley

“We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.” –Thomas Jefferson

Nurses have a social and ethical responsibility to be involved in advocacy for our practice, our patients and for the health of our nation. In our Code of Ethics, three provisions address a nurse’s involvement, our responsibility in health policy formation, and our responsibility in implementation and modification of health policy (Ellenbecker et al. 2017, Downs & Fiore-Lopez, 2021).

The American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONL) advocacy mission is to promote the voice of nursing leadership in all issues of nursing and patient care (AONL, 2022). Joining the AONL Political Action Committee (PAC) occurred after my interest was piqued during a Health Policy and Politics course in my DNP program. The ability to communicate formally and informally with my legislators has been a game changer for me professionally. I feel I have an active role as a nurse leader to make this a part of my core competency. I also have a strong desire to ensure that nurses at all levels find their voice and their passion around a legislative topic that is important to them. The global pandemic escalated our need to be involved in nursing legislation, and I was very fortunate to continue my advocacy visits to the Hill virtually the past two years. I reached out to the office staff of my senators and representatives when the AONL-supported Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act (S. 610, H.R. 1667) was going before a vote. “This bill is to establish grants for training strategies to address mental health and substance abuse disorders and require identification and dissemination of best practices in preventing suicide. It also requires national education and awareness to encourage health care professionals to seek support and care, establish grants to health care entities for healthcare provider educations, and establishing programs to prevent suicide and improve mental health” (S. Chappell, personal communication, 2021).

First, you must begin with an understanding of the legislative process, how to connect with members of Congress, and how best to communicate. There are many resources listed below that can begin you on this foundational learning path. I encourage each one of you to begin that journey and join us in September this year with our Virtual Advocacy Day with AONL. I am very fortunate to be among a small select group that will go to Washington in June for more in-depth training and then have the ability to go to the Hill and meet personally with the members of our legislative teams.

Effectively strengthening our influence on policy, practice and society, professional organizations capacity needs mobilized. (Chis, Cummings, Thorne, & Schick-Makaroff, 2021). The need for individual nurses to be educated and get involved in health policy is a consistent Call to Action for our members. I am making the call now! If we want change for nurses realizing their full potential in advocacy, we must be involved in the change.

Resources for Advocates

Nursing Community Coalition (NCC)
- Coalition of diverse nursing professional and organizations working to improve all aspects of healthcare.
GovTrack
- Legislation tracker, leading source of congressional information and statistics.
ANA Advocacy Toolkit

AONL Resources for Advocates:

REFERENCES

AONL. Communicating With Your Representative. Available at: https://www.aonl.org/advocacy/engged/communicatings. Accessed April 8, 2022.

Chiu, P., Cummings, G.C., Thorne, S. & Schick-Makaroff, K. (2021). Policy Advocacy and Nursing Organizations: A Scoping Review, 22(4), 276-296.

Downs, S. & Firoe-Lopez, N. (2021). Available at www.nurseleader.com. Accessed April 5, 2022.

Ellenbecker, C.H., Fawcett, J. Jones, E.J., Mahoney, D., Rowlands, B., & Waddell, A. (2017). A staged approach to educating nurses in health policy. Policy, Politics, & Nursing Practice, 18(1), 44-56.

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