Advocacy in Nursing

By Rosabel Zohfeld, MSN-Ed, APRN, FNP-C

Nurse practitioners advocate, speak for, and on behalf of individuals. They support and encourage healthcare, the nurse profession, and their role as providers through advocacy. Much more when the individual's ability to make choices and decisions is diminished due to illness and social circumstances. 

Political advocacy is an essential tool for advanced practice nurses (APNs) to promote the healthcare interests and needs of patients, communities, and their profession. Therefore, the APN needs to identify the current and most important issues in the nursing profession and personal interests. An example of a current issue in the advanced practice nursing profession is the different state limitations on NP's scope of practice. Having restrictions in certain areas harms communities that require healthcare services. These individuals and organizations can benefit from healthcare provision from highly trained professionals such as NPs. Through political advocacy, NPs can help change the different restrictions in state practice acts.

Key Points:

• Be politically competent

• Become familiar with policymakers, their positions, and interests

• Be aware of health policy resources such as contributing and volunteering

• Get acquainted with the state delegation, members of staff, and different committees

• Know about laws and regulations related to lobbying and or its activities

• Become familiar with Political action committees (PACs)

• Media coverage as an excellent resource for policymaking support

• Social media is a great tool to reach out and interact with an audience

• Partnerships and coalitions can help the NP's policies goal

Becoming politically competent: 

To bring and be part of a change in healthcare and the nursing profession, an NP must learn to utilize the legal and political resources available properly. Excellent communication skills, active listening, team building, and strategic planning are vital to becoming politically significant. A firm foundation on policy competency allows the NP to start a conversation on important issues that affect our nursing practice and healthcare delivery. 

Additional Developments:

There is still much to do in the political advocacy arena. There is a real need for NPs to become politically engaged to protect the clinical practice and the welfare and interests of patients and communities. Currently, most NPs seem not to have much time to be involved in all policy issues; however, focusing on issues that affect their practice and patients while supporting professional organizations is a great start. 

Conclusion:

In today's society, many political issues, among others, directly impact the advanced nurse practice. Nurse practitioners can shape the future of healthcare delivery through effective political advocacy. NPS can help advance the NP agenda using various resources and policy tools. With the primary goal of providing quality, safe, and cost-effective healthcare, NPs are uniquely positioned to lead health policy implementation. NPs have a professional obligation to advocate and be engaged in the political changes in healthcare and the nursing practice profession.