Article in AACN Advanced Critical Care discusses how and why nurses can develop their advocacy skills to build influence among policymakers
Newswise — Nurses advocate on behalf of their patients in healthcare settings every day but often hesitate to speak up in other settings, especially when policy and politics are involved. A nurse-turned-legislator says it’s crucial for nurses to develop the confidence and competence to add their voices to important discussions on issues facing their patients, communities and the nursing profession.
In “Built for Advocacy,” author North Carolina Senator Gale Adcock, MSN, FNP-BC, discusses her personal experience as a nurse now serving as a state senator and offers lessons learned during her career journey from registered nurse to nurse practitioner to elected official. The article is published in AACN Advanced Critical Care.
In her first election in 2007, Adcock won 55% of the vote, avoiding a runoff in a three-way race for an open seat on her local town council. After seven years, she won a competitive seat in the North Carolina House of Representatives, the first advanced practice nurse elected to the state’s General Assembly. Eight years later, she was elected to the state senate, the first nurse to serve in that chamber. She is currently the only member of the state senate who is also a healthcare professional.
“Nurses need to speak out and improve outcomes outside of healthcare settings, especially in the policy areas of local, state and federal government,” she said. “Despite nurses’ being the largest segment of the healthcare workforce, our voices are often missing from crucial conversations about access to care, health inequities and upstream problems affecting people’s health.”
She notes that nurses have several advantages to prepare to engage in policy discussions, including being able to connect easily with others and use common language instead of jargon.
In the article, she offers eight specific steps nurses can take to position themselves to influence policymakers, beginning with getting involved in specialty nursing organizations, such as the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), as well as their state nurses’ association.
“Nursing must be present and vocal at healthcare policy tables, and it is on us to get there. We cannot expect an invitation to participate,” she said.
She also offers nurses a variety of policy and advocacy resources to learn more.
The article is part of a symposium in the journal’s spring 2024 issue about political engagement for nurses and advanced practice nurses. Other articles address:
- Implications of the APRN Consensus Model for full practice authority
- Relationship between advocacy and policy in healthcare
- Overview of nursing regulation
AACN Advanced Critical Care is a quarterly, peer-reviewed publication with in-depth articles intended for experienced critical care and acute care clinicians at the bedside, advanced practice nurses, and clinical and academic educators. Each issue also includes a topic-based symposium, feature articles and columns of interest to critical care and progressive care clinicians.
Access the issue by visiting the AACN Advanced Critical Care website at http://acc.aacnjournals.org/.
About AACN Advanced Critical Care: AACN Advanced Critical Care is a quarterly, peer-reviewed publication with in-depth articles intended for experienced critical care and acute care clinicians at the bedside, advanced practice nurses and clinical and academic educators. An official publication of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), the journal has a circulation of 1,500 and can be accessed at http://acc.aacnjournals.org/.
About the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses: For more than 50 years, the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) has been dedicated to acute and critical care nursing excellence. The organization’s vision is to create a healthcare system driven by the needs of patients and their families in which acute and critical care nurses make their optimal contribution. AACN is the world’s largest specialty nursing organization, with about 130,000 members and nearly 200 chapters in the United States.
American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, 27071 Aliso Creek Road, Aliso Viejo, CA 92656; 949-362-2000; www.aacn.org; facebook.com/aacnface; x.com/aacnme
RSS