Paper Example on Nurses Step Up: Playing an Active Role in Passing Laws

Introduction

Everyone has a role to play in the passing of a bill before it becomes a law. Since the law being passed affect everyone in society, including professional like nurses. Nurses have realized that the health care system has several things that need to be improved, and this cannot be achieved solemnly by going on with usual duties. This reality has forced them to take a stand for them to be able to have an influence on the laws and regulations that manage the area of work they operate in so that they can be able to make a more significant difference.

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Stages of bill passing process that nurses can influence the final passage.

There are various stages that a bill passes before it can become a law. The steps of passing a bill include; introduction of a bill, committee action, hearing, mark up, committee report, conference action, and executive action. The best stages where the nurses can influence the law and have a proper impact is during the introduction of the bill and the hearing stages.

Two ways that this influence can take place and preferred option. The first stage where nurses can influence the passage of a bill is during the early stage of the process, which is the introduction of the bill. Here the nurses through their associations can reach out to a member of congress who will bring the bill to congress, which translates to the member of congress needing advice when he or she is drafting the said bill. This will help the nurses to be able to give their expertise on the bill hence influencing the law.

The other stage where they can influence the law-making process is during the hearing stage of the bill whereby they can be able to give more advice on the content of the bill by advising on the impact it will have by pointing out the issues in the bill and how it can be amended to be better.

My preferred option between the two ways will be the hearing stage of the law passing process. During this stage, nurses can give an unwritten and written account of their issues with the bill, which will help the committee and the legislators to see the proposal from the nurses’ expertise.

What role can nurses play in promoting health status through policy changes directly affecting this social determinant?

Social determinants of health are used to describe the environment in which human beings are born, raised in, workaround, and age that affects their health. Social determinants of health include employment, medical bills, education, health care system, and safety.

Nurses have several ways that they can promote health status through policy changes. First and foremost, the nurses can encourage on a strategy whereby importance is put in place whereby health is considered in non-health areas, for example, ensuring when there is the availability of public transportation which will help bring into place the existence of good schools and recreation facilities, availability of fresh and healthy food, easy access to healthcare facilities and employment opportunities.

Secondly, the nurses can advocate for policies that encourage considering putting health in all policies and bills that are being passed. The placing importance on health will help ensure that society inherits a healthy culture hence a more productive society.

Conclusion

Whether they accept it or not, just like the nurses have a role in participating in the making changes in the law-making process, we all have the same obligation to ourselves and our societies to ensure the laws being passed help improve our daily lives.

References

Influencing Health Care in the Legislative Arena. Ojin.nursingworld.org. (2020). http://ojin.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Volume122007/No1Jan07/tpc32_216091.html.

Influencing the Legislative Process: How a Bill Becomes A Law: Home Healthcare Now. LWW. (2020). https://journals.lww.com/homehealthcarenurseonline/Citation/2003/05000/Influencing_the_Legislative_Process__How_a_Bill.5.aspx.

Mereness, D. (1959). Factors Influencing The Nurse's Role. Psychiatric Services, 10(9), 16-17. https://doi.org/10.1176/ps.10.9.16

Patton, R., Zalon, M., & Ludwick, R. (2018). Nurses Making Policy, Second Edition. Springer Publishing Company.