Nurse’s Role in Influencing the Legislative Process nursing assignment paper sample
Nurse’s Role in Influencing the Legislative Process nursing assignment paper sample
For this week’s project, you’ll answer three questions related to your opportunity as a nurse and an advocate. The first two questions relate to
influencing a bill is traveling through the legislative process. The third question refers you to the social determinants of health as described in your course textbook reading and asks you to think specifically on your role as a nurse in influencing social determinants of health.
In a brief paper (no more than 2 typed pages, 1 inch margins, 12 font Times New Roman or Courier New), answer the questions below. Write each question as a new topic area and then follow with a paragraph or two to answer the question. You may find it necessary to search for answers to the questions outside of the assigned reading. Be sure to use APA guidelines for writing style, spelling and grammar, and citation of sources.
Nurse’s Role in Influencing the Legislative Process
Answer the following questions:
What parts of the lawmaking process does a nurse have an opportunity to influence the final bill passage?
List at least two ways that this influence can take place. In your opinion, would one way be preferable over the other?
Reviewing the social determinants of health, select one to respond to this question:
What role can nurses play in promoting health status through policy changes directly affecting this social determinant?
Sample Solution to Nurse’s Role in Influencing the Legislative Process nursing assignment paper
Paper type: Essay
Course Level: College
Subject Area: Nursing
# Pages: 2
Introduction
Apart from performing their nursing roles, professional nurses should also act as advocates for their patients. Precisely, they should ensure that all enacted healthcare policies are of great relevance to the community. In that regard, nurses must have basic knowledge of legislative issues and the role that they can play in influencing the development of healthcare-related policies (Mund, 2012). According to Mund (2012), contemporary nurses can effectively transform healthcare through their active involvement in pertinent legislative processes. Furthermore, they should have a comprehensive understanding of the best approach that they should take to effect meaningful reforms. Ideally, nurses have an important role to play in promoting the health status of the community through policy changes that directly affect specific social determinants of health.
Question One
A nurse has an opportunity to influence the final bill passage at specific stages of the lawmaking process. For a proposed bill to become law, it must pass through six major steps namely, its presentation to the House committee, initial hearings and voting, documentation of its scope, debate, amendments and reconciliation, and approval (America Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing, 2017). Nurses have the greatest opportunity to influence the bill before it is introduced to the House committee. Members of the Congress must conduct a comprehensive research to collect views from various stakeholders regarding the proposal at hand prior to its introduction to the House. It is at this stage when nurses have the first opportunity to influence the final bill passage. Additionally, they can exert their influencing during initial hearings and voting phase, during debating stage, as well as at the time of amendment and reconciliation (America Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing, 2017).
Question Two
Nurses can influence the lawmaking process in several ways. The type of approach taken largely depends on the nature of outcome that a particular option will generate. As Mund (2012) explains, nurses can influence the legislative process by educating lawmakers as the bill moves from one step to another. In addition, a registered nurse can support the creation of a relevant health care policy by drafting and amending a specific legislation through active involvement of multi-disciplinary professionals. In my opinion, I think both approaches are preferable because they support passage of the best bill. The reason is that educating legislators will make them see the importance of enacting a policy that will have a positive impact on the target populations. Additionally, involving professionals from other fields will result in the creation of a bill that is easy to explain and implement (America Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing, 2017).
Question Three
As nurses strive to influence the legislative process, they should always ensure that they support the development of policies that focus on a specific social determinant of health. For instance, a social determinant of health that nurses should struggle to improve is access to healthcare. In order to promote the health status of the community, nurses should support policy changes that are aimed at decreasing financial burden to members of the community, providing insurance coverage to the uninsured, and increasing the number of healthcare facilities (ODPHP, 2017).
Conclusion
In summary, nurses are the best people to advocate for their patients’ needs because they possess a comprehensive knowledge of specific factors that have a positive impact on community health. The two preferable ways through which a nurse can be involved in the lawmaking process include educating the legislators and by making relevant amendments to a proposed bill. Generally, nurses should support the development of health policies that focus on a specific social determinant of health.
Sample Solution to Nurse’s Role in Influencing the Legislative Process nursing assignment paper
References
America Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing. (2017). How a bill becomes a law. Retrieved from https://www.aaacn.org/how-bill-becomes-law
Mund, A. (2012). Healthcare policy for advocacy in health care. Retrieved from http://samples.jbpub.com/9781449687137/87137_CH05_Pass1.pdf
ODPHP. (2017). Social determinants of health: Access to health services. Retrieved from https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/Access-to-Health-Services
