The Role of Nurses in Influencing the Legislative Bill

The Role of Nurses in Influencing the Legislative Bill

What parts of the lawmaking process does a nurse have an opportunity to influence the final bill passage?

Everyone who relies on the health care system is affected by health care policies. Some of the policies are not favorable to healthcare professionals and patients. This has led to some healthcare professionals advocating for changes in healthcare policies. Nurses are some healthcare professionals who play an active role in advocating for policy changes.

Nurses can influence the final bill passage in different parts of the legislative process. Nurses can give their opinion whenever there is a pending bill (Hemingway, 2018). Given that bills are always at risk of failing at every legislative process, the feedback nurses give can help ensure the final bill passage. However, it is important for nurses to know the legislative process to give meaningful feedback on pending bills. Therefore, knowledgeable nurses can give feedback on bills whenever they are pending.

Nurses can also influence the final bill passage during congressional hearings. Committees hold hearings to collect opinions, facts, and perspectives on a proposed bill. Special interest groups and experts can provide information to the committees by special request. This is an opportunity for nurses to present the issues facing health care associated with the legislation. Members of the American Nurses Association with expertise in a particular area are reached out to give their opinion. By bringing patient narratives and nursing stories, nurses make legislators more knowledgeable about what is expected in health care. Before any legislation is drafted, nurses can come up with issues that would make a health policy be designed to address them. They can thus influence the kind of health care bills that are passed. During policy implementation, nurses can monitor how the rules are written to ensure they are aligned with the issues they raised while formulating the policies.

List at least two ways that this influence can take place. In your opinion, would one way be preferable over the other?

There are different ways in which nurses can influence the final bill passage. It is usually complex to write an initial piece of legislation since one has to limit causes for judicial review, minimize confusion among the voting members, and avoid violating the human rights of the citizens. Therefore, interest groups and lobbyists may ask members of Congress to co-sponsor a bill. When nurses act as one of the interest groups that co-sponsors a particular bill, they are likely to influence how the bill is written, ensuring its final passage. This allows them to influence how the bill can solve the issues faced in health care.

In addition, the influence of nurses on final bill passage occurs through advocacy. Several nurses in the United States are motivated to advocate for change in the current regulations, laws, and policies. One outstanding nurse known for having advocated for change in the United States is Florence Nightingale (Karen & Diana, 2020). She shaped the healthcare system by advocating for better hospital conditions. Therefore, most nurses who are members of organizations such as the American Nurses Association can directly participate in the legislative process. For instance, they can air their issues during congressional hearings to ensure that only appropriate bills are passed.

Even though nurses acting as co-sponsors can help ensure the final bill passage, advocacy is more effective in passing the most appropriate bill. This is because advocacy involves refining opinions and clarifying key issues. As advocates, nurses ensure that the interests of everyone affected by a particular health policy are considered. Therefore, more nurses should use advocacy to improve healthcare services.

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?

Economic stability is a social determinant of health that nurses must focus on when advocating for policy changes. Several people in the United States cannot access affordable care due to their economic status. Even though the introduction of the Affordable Care Act has helped to solve this issue, millions of Americans still fail to access affordable health care (Kaestner & Lubotsky, 2016). When raising their issues on policies associated with medical bills, nurses need to ensure that healthcare policies advocate for affordable healthcare being accessible to all citizens. This can be done by ensuring health insurance policies favor people from poor economic backgrounds. However, favorable health insurance policies alone cannot significantly improve the health status of people when there is an unequal distribution of health care facilities.

Healthcare facilities are unequally distributed in the US. Some low-income families do not have nearby access to the best medical technology, doctors, and hospitals. This is common in rural areas. If judged by health outcomes, the northern states have better care than the southern states. When taking part in the formulation of policies, nurses can help eradicate this health inequality by advocating for policies in which everyone has equal access to the same quality of services. This will help in improving health outcomes among people from poor economic backgrounds.

References

Hemingway, A. (2018). Role of nurses in tackling health inequalities. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 32(6), 20–35.

Kaestner, R., & Lubotsky, D. (2016). Health Insurance and Income Inequality. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 30(2), 53–78.

Karen, M., & Diana, B. (2020). Nurses as heroes , warriors and political activists. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 15–53. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.15353

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The Role of Nurses in Influencing the Legislative Bill

Instructions
Nurse’s Role in Influencing the Legislative Process
In a Microsoft Word document of 2-3 pages formatted in APA style, you will answer three questions related to your opportunity as a nurse and an advocate. The first two questions relate to influencing a bill that is traveling through the legislative process. The third question refers you to the social determinants of health and asks you to think specifically on your role as a nurse in influencing social determinants of health.

Answer the following questions:

1. What parts of the lawmaking process does a nurse have an opportunity to influence the final bill passage?
2. List at least two ways that this influence can take place. In your opinion, would one way be preferable over the other?
3. Reviewing the social determinants of health, select one to respond to this question:
4. What role can nurses play in promoting health status through policy changes directly affecting this social determinant?

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.

On a separate references page, cite all sources using APA format. Helpful APA guides and resources are available in the South University Online Library. Below are guides that are located in the library and can be accessed and downloaded via the South University Online Citation Resources: APA Style page. The American Psychological Association website also provides detailed guidance on formatting, citations, and references at APA Style.

• APA Citation Helper
• APA Citations Quick Sheet
• APA-Style Formatting Guidelines for a Written Essay
• Basic Essay Template

Please note that the title and reference pages should not be included in the total page count of your paper.