Nurses advocate for their patients every day. Whether collaborating with the health care team to ensure a patient’s plan of care is appropriate, connecting patients and families to community resources, or teaching a patient during discharge planning, nurses utilize a set of interpersonal skills that lend them to be natural advocates (Mason, et. al. 2021).

What are some examples of how a lobbyist for a professional nursing organization works with nursing advocates on any given healthcare-related issue?

300 words, 2 references

(Please utilize your textbook and note chapters for week 7).

 Policy & Politics in Nursing and Health Care, 8th Edition. 

CHAPTER 7

The policy process

Eileen T. O’Grady

“There are three critical ingredients to democratic renewal and progressive change in America: good public policy, grassroots organizing and electoral politics.”

Paul Wellstone

Nurses can more strategically and effectively influence policy if they have a clear understanding of the policymaking process. Conceptual models can help to organize and interpret information by depicting complex ideas in a simplified form; to this end, political scientists have developed a number of conceptual models to explain the highly dynamic process of policymaking. This chapter reviews two of these conceptual models.

Health policy and politics

Health policy encompasses the political, economic, social, cultural, and social determinants of individuals and populations and attempts to address the broader issues in health and health care (see Box 7.1 for policy definitions). A clear understanding of the points of influence to shape policy is essential and includes framing the problem itself. For example, if nurses working in a nurse-managed clinic are troubled by staff shortages or long patient waits, they may be inclined to see themselves as the solution by working longer hours and seeing more patients. Defining and framing the problem is the first step in the policy process and involves assessing its history, patterns of impact, resource allocation, and community needs. Broadening and framing the problem to influence or educate stakeholders at the local, state, or federal level could include advocating for better access or funding for nursing workforce development (see Box 7.1).

BOX 7.1

Policy Definitions

Policy is authoritative decision making related to choices about goals and priorities of the policymaking body. In general, policies are constructed as a set of regulations (public policy), practice standards (workplace), governance mandates (organizations), ethical behavior (research), and ordinances (communities) that direct individuals, groups, organizations, and systems toward the desired behaviors and goals.

Health policy is the authoritative decisions made in the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of government that are intended to direct or influence the actions, behaviors, and decisions of others (Longest, 2016).

Policy analysis is the investigation of an issue including the background, purpose, content, and effects of various options within a policy context and their relevant social, economic, and political factors (Dye, 2016).

The next step is to bring the problem to the attention of those who have the power to implement a solution. Other key factors to consider include generating public interest, the availability of viable policy solutions, the likelihood that the policy will serve most of the people at risk in a fair and equit