Nurses: Influencing Health Care Policy Essay Example

Introduction

Nursing influences the health care policy through the daily tasks in the delivery of healthcare. Health care policy is essential as they set a general plan of action used in guiding the desired outcomes and help in decision making (Burke, 2016). Professional nurses act as advocates for the patients by protecting legal, human rights and patients medical. Nurses support the patients and answer their questions regarding the procedure, treatment and any other aspect of health care. Nurses are not tied only to their specified roles but also influence current and future health delivery systems. Registered nurses spend a lot of time with the patients, so they are aware of their specific needs. They, therefore, play an active role in the development of healthcare policy.

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Professional nurses significantly help in health policymaking through advocacy (Burke, 2016). Nurses have a history of advocacy for the common good. Advocacy in nursing was commenced by Florence Nightingale, who advocated for better conditions for the patients during the Crimean war. She also advocated for the education of the nurses. Nightingale influenced policymakers, physicians, governments, and philanthropists. Nurses advocate for better outcomes for the individuals, communities and societies. They have the power to promote change. They stand up and address concerns of the disadvantaged people and work together with other parties in creating policies that will improve the quality of health of the people.

Nurses advocate for policies that help in palliative care approaches that help patients with life-limiting illness access healthcare that is responsive and tailored to meet their needs (Burke, 2016). Nurses are knowledgeable about palliative care, and they work with policymakers to ensure that there is specialized medical care whose focus is on relieving the symptoms of life-limiting diseases. The goal of the palliative care policies is to improve the quality of life of the patients as well as their family.

During the process of policy evaluation, there are challenges that the nurses face. However, some interventions are applied by the management to make sure that the process succeeds (Abel-Smith, 2018). One of the challenges that professional nurses face during the evaluation process is the lack of resources. The nurses deal with this challenge by working together with the finance department so that they can allocate funds for the evaluation process. The second potential challenge that professional nurses face is lack of familiarity with the evaluation methods. This is mitigated by ensuring that the nurses are knowledgeable about the policy implementation process and their role in every stage. Additionally, policy evaluation is prone to rapid policy implementation, which is mitigated by creating a timeline for policy implementation.

Nurses are involved in policy evaluation, assessment, diagnosis, planning, and implementation. They evaluate the healthcare policy to make necessary decisions as well as education (Abel-Smith, 2018). Evaluation is important as it supports an outcome-oriented approach. The purpose of policy evaluation is to understand the worth, merit and the utility of a policy. Nurses are involved in the evaluation of the policy from the beginning, where they ensure that the content articulates the objectives of the policy. They are also involved in the implementation process to ensure that the components that will promote maximum benefits are emphasized. They also participate in evaluating the impact of the policy. In this step, the nurses participate in establishing whether the policy produced the intended purpose. If for example, the purpose of the policy is to reduce the injury, the evaluation of the impact of the policy will be to establish whether the policy reduced the number of injuries or the severity.

During the process of policy evaluation, there are challenges that the nurses face. However, some interventions are applied by the management to make sure that the process succeeds. One of the challenges that professional nurses face during the evaluation process is the lack of resources (Abel-Smith, 2018). The nurses deal with this challenge by working together with the finance department so that they can allocate funds for the evaluation process. The second potential challenge of policy evaluation is the lack of familiarity with the evaluation methods. This is mitigated by ensuring that the nurses are knowledgeable on the policy implementation process and their role in every stage, with professional nurses; however, the process is effective as they are skilled and experienced. Additionally, policy evaluation is prone to rapid policy implementation, which is mitigated by creating a timeline for policy implementation.

Action Plan for Nurses to Increase Involvement

Nurses have to influence healthcare policies being made because they have knowledge and experience of the challenges ailing the healthcare system. Participation of nurses in planning makes other stakeholders who might not have healthcare knowledge to know the needs that need to be solved first (Patton et al., 2018). The participation of the nurses is meant to influence the policy to ensure the policies provide a framework that provides healthcare service to all people in society. The policies developed should be based on the quality of healthcare and how the healthcare services get delivered. The action plan embraced is determined by the type of challenges the healthcare system faces.

The action plan that nurses can use to increase involvement includes supporting nurse leaders to represent the views of the nurses in different forums that are formed for policy formulation. The action plan will make the leaders play the role of intermediary between the nurses, patients and legislators during policy development (Patton et al., 2018). Communication, including feedback from the patients, is key to ensure that the policies made reflect the needs of healthcare. The action plan will increase nurse involvement, the representation will give the nurses the chance to be represented, and the views and concerns addressed. The action plan will streamline the flow of information among all the stakeholders involved in policy development.

The goal of the action plan that uses nurse leaders to represent the interests and concerns of the nurses is to ensure that the views and concerns of the nurses are addressed by policies developed. Policies need to address the challenges the healthcare faces, therefore, involving the nurse leadership they will be able to propose solutions to the challenges based on experiences and expertise (Patton et al., 2018). Involving professionals in polity making ensures that policies addressed the challenges experienced in healthcare in the right way.

The action plan will focus on addressing the challenges that do not require much resources and time first then more complicated challenges to follow. The action plan will be effective because the policymakers will know the root cause of the problem in healthcare through policies. Resources have to be budgeted to facilitate the implementation of the action plan (Patton et al., 2018). Nurses will be involved more in the implementation of the action plan that contains their recommendations of how they would like the problems facing healthcare to be solved. Nurses are involved in all activities that concern healthcare provision; hence they will participate in the implementation of the action plan.

The action plan will also include evaluation of the effectiveness of the already existing policies, whether they achieved the purpose they were meant to achieve. The policy audit helps in guiding the policymakers avoid the challenges that come up during the implementation of the policies (Patton et al., 2018). The action plan will incorporate the changes that need to be embraced to ensure the new policies solve the purpose they were meant to address. The audit ensures that the action plan will correct errors that were not solved by the already existing policies. Professional health policies ensure they solve old and emerging challenges that make the nurses unable to deliver their services.

The action plan will increase nurse involvement in policy development through representation by their leaders; nurse leaders interact with the nurses on a daily basis hence they understand the challenges they face as they provide healthcare services to patients (Patton et al., 2018). The objective of the action plan is to facilitate the implementation of nurses' related policies and assist stakeholders in policy development. Nurses, through their leaders, will influence more in policy-making as opposed to nursing communicating independently on their own. The way the nurses engage in policymaking is key because the nurses have to lobby other colleagues involved in policy development. Policymaking requires people to influence their colleagues on matters they want to be considered.

Conclusion

In conclusion, professional nurses play a significant role in health policy development where they provide opinions and the required information in policy development. Nurses use the action plan to implement the policies that have been developed to assist the nurses in their work (Patton et al., 2018). The involvement of the nurses plays a role in policy development where the involvement ensures the policies address challenges experienced in healthcare. The policies improve healthcare by giving guidelines on how the challenges need to be solved.

References

Abel-Smith, B. (2018). An introduction to health: policy, planning and financing. Routledge. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Introduction-Health-Policy-Planning-Financing/dp/1138172995

Burke, S. (2016). Influence through policy: Nurses have a unique role. Reflectionsonnursingleadership.org. https://www.reflectionsonnursingleadership.org/commentary/more-commentary/Vol42_2_nurses-have-a-unique-role#:~:text=Through%20policy%20work%2C%20nurses%20can,to%20assure%20quality%20of%20care.&text=Policies%20also%20impact%20resource%20allocation,unique%20role%20in%20formulating%20policy

Patton, R. M., Zalon, M. L., & Ludwick, R. (Eds.). (2018). Nurses making policy: From bedside to boardroom. Springer Publishing Company. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=6220899251661183491&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5&as_ylo=2016