Discussion 1 Carlos
It is virtually impossible to navigate the current health care system in the United States with a large amount of laws and regulations created by a variety of government agencies, private sector insurers, and institutions. The system is often poorly coordinated, this lack of coordination drives up costs and puts patients at risk. Therefore, it is not surprising that given today’s rising costs, deteriorating access, and variable quality, healthcare professionals, who are directly affected by this situation, try to step up and have a voice in the legislative process.
As healthcare professionals interact with patients and their families, they are often the first providers to see clearly when and how the health care system is not effectively meeting patient needs. Every day healthcare professionals are positioned to see not only the impact of health policy on individual patients but also the need for more comprehensive changes in the policies that address many health-related issues. Healthcare professionals come face to face with issues associated with patient safety and satisfaction, access to services, clinical outcomes, and health disparities. Dealing with these concerns and other workplace issues that having broad implications for whole groups of people, they have the choice to continue on trying to make do while feeling victimized by current changes, or to motivate themselves to act and find opportunities to bring about change in the health care system itself (Jansson et al., 2017).
Jansson et al. (2017) explain that as challenging and time consuming as it may be, accepting the responsibility to advocate offers healthcare professionals the unique opportunity to make a difference and to have the satisfaction of being part of bringing a better health care system into reality for themselves and their patients. Advocacy adds a dimension to their professional practice that offers the reward of having more control over patient care and outcomes. Successful advocacy to bring about changes in the health care system demands access to the resources of power, will, time, and energy, along with necessary political skills. Most often than not issues are too big or complex to be easily resolved by a few phone calls or even the dedicated efforts of one person. In reality, very few policy changes take place without the concerted efforts of many advocates working together to bring about a common goal.
One advocacy action to improve health care through legislation at the state or federal level would be to become part of an advocacy group. Complex health care policies require the knowledge and efforts of organized groups, the help of professional lobbyists, and sustained activity of months or even years. Joining a professional advocacy organization is an important way to enhance individual advocacy efforts. Healthcare workers in an organized professional association have more resources, and are able to strategize more effectively to bring their perspective to health policy decision makers than do individual people (Roman, 2022). Professional advocacy organizations are able to monitor public policy and offer ways for their members to learn about health policy. They also serve as a resource for reliable information related to policy issues and policy makers.
Roman (2022) mentions another way that professional associations work for the benefit of advocates is by providing information and tools to ensure that candidates who are supportive of our ideas are elected to, or remain in office. Registering to vote and voting in all elections is a must for every advocate. Here again, being part of a professional association with an established political action committee (PAC) can be very helpful in discovering where elected officials stand on issues and finding opportunities to work for the candidates who are supportive of nursing and health care issues.
The ability to successfully exert influence in the legislative process where future health care policy decisions are made and to take advantage of opportunities to present our perspective on the health care issues depends on having a power base and knowing where and when to exert that influence. As healthcare professionals get ready to take their issues into the legislative arena and to use their legislative power and political clout, it is also essential to recognize which strategies will be timely and most effective (Roman, 2022).
References:
Jansson, B. S., Nyamathi, A., Heidemann, G., Duan, L., & Kaplan, C. (2017). Validation of the Policy Advocacy Engagement Scale for Frontline Healthcare Professionals. Nursing ethics, 24(3), 362-375.
Discussion 2 Erin
Nurses have the ability to help influence public health policy through advocacy which results in improvements in healthcare and positive patient outcomes. Florence Nightingale was the most well-known pioneer of nursing that taught us about the importance to advocate and raise your voice about what is right when it comes to healthcare and policymaking (Stone, 2020). Florence was also a political activist that advocated for changes of laws and conditions that created social problems (Silva et al., 2022). Politics will always have a driving force in healthcare. Although these two topics seem the farthest, they can be from each other nurses and healthcare providers need to be actively involved in politics to guide necessary changes throughout healthcare. One of the simplest ways that nurses can improve healthcare through legislation is getting nurses to vote in elections which is ultimately the most altruistic acts that a nurse can do to advocate for our patients (Ramsey, 2020). Voting for candidates that are best aligned with a person’s beliefs and understands that changes need to be made can begin the process necessary for changes to happen. If we as healthcare providers continually chose not to vote and elect officials that see the need for change, then that is what we will continue to get, no change, no movement and no improvements. Ramsey (2020), states that there are two major reasons that stand in the way of nursing advocacy in politics. First, there needs to be a push for more political involvement at the baccalaureate level of nursing that helps to discuss and educate on the legalities and implications of nursing. Courses like nursing centric political sciences can be compared to a nurse educating their patients to produce behavioral changes. If professional changes are going to be made, it must be down through the empowerment of political involvement and education on how to make these changes through the political system. The second barrier to nursing advocacy in politics, in this article is referred to as the “forced following” which results in a blind vote following for candidates that the American Nursing Association supports instead of researching for ourselves what a candidate supports (Ramsey, 2020). Blindly voting can result in little to no change or even negative changes that can affect outcomes for our patients. As healthcare professionals we must make sure that we are educating ourselves on the issues at hand as well as what the candidates support. We must advocate for change by educating ourselves on the political issues and becoming active members in the political process for policy change. We must involve ourselves and allow our voices to be heard as a profession. Changes can be made when we understand how and why things happen. Becoming involved is how the changes will ultimately be made, improving our work environments, healthcare standards and outcomes for our patients. If we are not active in the process of what guides our healthcare standards and practice, then we are not fully advocating for our patients to the best of our ability. We need to take the time to not only recognize where changes can be made but be active in the process of change and how to achieve it.
References
Ramsey, B. (2020). Politics as a driving force in nursing and health care. Nursing Economic$, 38(6), 282. https://eds.s.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=5&sid=06498c2e-a98d-4464-a154-37cb86357f63%40redis