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When you think about nursing, you probably picture nurses working one-on-one with patients in a medical setting such as a hospital or a trauma center. You might not immediately envision professionals writing policy and advocating for innovation in the industry, but that’s exactly what some nurses do. When you become a nurse, your responsibility is to help the general public for a nation that is as healthy as possible, and sometimes this goes beyond treating patients in person. For many nurses, working toward effective public health policy and promoting preventive care are passions that drive their work. But what do they do to change, create and implement public health policies and initiatives that promote preventative care?
This article explores the nurse’s role in public health and prevention-based care.
What is public health policy?
Before we take a close look at how nurses are able to effect change in health initiatives, let’s explore the idea of public health policy and what it means. First, ‘public health’ refers to the overall health of the community at large. This can refer to communities of all sizes and can even be used to refer to the entire population of the country (or, more broadly, the world). The emerging COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 was an issue of public health importance, for example, because it stood to impact the population as a whole.
More specifically, public health policy initiatives are initiatives that affect the public at large. While these can vary from region to region, the most well-known of them are federal and affect most of the country. Preventive care, for example, is a public health initiative that seeks to help patients look after their health and prevent serious problems from developing and progressing. Prioritizing a healthy diet and lifestyle is a common preventive care method as it helps patients prevent themselves from becoming obese and experiencing all of the health issues that obesity brings.
Public health policy serves an important purpose. It helps set forth care standards designed to protect patients and secure them effective care. This is not to say that it is without its problems, of course. Many believe that today’s public health policy has become far too politicized, leading to healthcare that is decided on political goals rather than true public health. Because they are so connected to patients, nurses recognize the damage that these decisions can cause and are often stringently opposed to policies that arbitrarily affect the way that they provide care and look after their patients’ health.
Overall, public healthcare policy is the regulations and policies by which the US healthcare system is run. It has a massive impact not only on the care that your patients receive and the environment in which nursing professionals work, but also on the way that you do your job. As a result, this should be an issue that you keep near and dear to your heart.
The role of nursing in public health policy
With all of the above in mind, you might wonder what you can do to help shape public health policy in the US. Nurses plays an important role in shaping public health as they have direct interaction with the public. They are some of the medical professionals in the country best positioned to identify not only where gaps in care exist and where there is room for improvement, but also the immediate impact that present and potential policies have on the patient population.
As a current or aspiring nurse, you have a responsibility to ensure that your patients receive the very best care you can give them. This means that if you see something negatively affecting them, it is important that you do everything you can to make your voice heard whether the people making the policy want to hear it or not. And because you have extensive experience working with different members of your community, you are the ideal professional to lobby for change.
Let’s take a closer look at the role that nurses play in healthcare policy as well as how they can go about impacting public health initiatives.
Patient advocates
One of the most important, if not the single most important, role that nurses play in policy formation is that of the public advocate. Because they interact with patients every day, nurses are perhaps uniquely positioned to notice all of the different ways that public policy affects them. This includes impacts that might not otherwise be considered. Maybe a certain public health initiative seems like a great one up front but has the unintended side effect of increasing the burden on others or amplifying stigma. Nurses pick up on these issues right away, making them some of the first professionals to recognize negative consequences.
Beyond noticing issues with existing policies, nurses are also well-positioned to recognize areas where patients could use some extra help. If they see that a segment of the population is underserved, for example, they are in a better position to suggest changes to policy to remedy the issue than professionals who have much less interaction with them.
As patient advocates, nurses lobby for changes that best suit their patients. Whether this means altering an existing policy or pushing for a new one altogether, they are the best people to make a difference in this area.
Public health champions
Another area where nurses thrive in affecting and changing public health policy is championing public health. While nurses primarily focus on their individual patients, their broader goal should be to positively impact the broader community. Serving the needs of families, groups and broader populations in addition to individuals is an important part of nursing, and they advocate for education, resources, basic provisions and services for the community in question.
As they champion public health initiatives, nurses are able to use their experience working in the community to see first-hand the effect that specific policies and initiatives are having on the population. This knowledge is often what drives them to lobby for change and for progressive policy adaptations that clarify certain care duties and procedures.
Nursing staff protectors
Finally, nurses operate as nursing staff protectors when it comes to policy changes and implementation. While patients are understandably typically considered the most important people in the hospital, nurses run the show. If they are burned out or are working at diminished capacity for some reason, then the care that patients receive will inevitably drop. This means that if you see policies that are negatively impacting your work environment in any way, you have not only the ability but also the duty to stand up and sound the alarm. Don’t underestimate the impact that the squeaky wheel can have in the long run.
Also note that policy can affect how nurses are educated. Policy at the regional and federal levels has clarified that remote education is appropriate for incoming nurses, extending the reach of nursing education to students without the ability to attend a traditional university. Wilkes University, for example, offers a 100% online msn program designed with busy professionals in mind, allowing even individuals who are already working to study nursing.
In order to best serve patients, nurses must be healthy and work in an environment that is as easy and positive as possible, including receiving an education that fits with their lifestyle.
How can I impact public health policy?
We’ve discussed how important standing up and lobbying for progressive change and innovation can be, but we haven’t gone into detail about how nurses can make a direct difference. From researching who writes the policy in question to encouraging nurses to advocate for patients when they see problems, here are some of the steps that nurses can take to directly impact public health policy.
Do some research into policy formation
This might sound like an unnecessary step, but you have to understand how policies are formed and implemented before you can effectively lobby for revisions and changes. On a very broad level, for example, there are three main policymaking bodies that nurses should keep in mind:
- Local facility decision makers
- Regional decision makers
- Federal decision makers
Local facility decision makers write and implement policies that affect a single healthcare system or healthcare facility. Their rules do not typically affect people outside of that facility or healthcare system, and they are lower in importance than regional and federal rules. If a local policy disagrees with a regional or federal one, the local policy will default to the regional and/or federal regulation.
Regional decision makers affect slightly larger populations. Rather than a single facility, for example, they might enact state-wide policies exclusive to the state in question. Regional policies take precedence over local policy but take a backseat to federal policy. Federal policy refers to policy that affects the country as a whole. Federal policy is the default policy that healthcare providers follow. Unless an exception is made, they should follow first federal, then regional, and then local policy.
Now that you understand a bit more about who makes the policy, you are better situated to address policies with which you disagree.
Look into who makes the policy
We know a bit about policymakers now, but who are the specific people behind the local, regional or federal policy that you would like to change? This is important information as it will allow you to interact with the person in charge directly. It is far more effective to communicate with the individual who wields policy power than it is to contact people who have little role in the process. Make sure that you know exactly who is responsible for policy decisions and approach them as directly as possible.
Write to policymakers
Now that you know who makes the policies in question, you are ready to reach out to them directly. Note that these communications must be kept as respectful as possible. You will find that you make significantly more headway when you approach the situation in question logically and reasonably. Hold the insults and aggression to release to your friends or coworkers, if appropriate, and keep conversations with policymakers formal. This is especially important if you are writing to a politician. Often, messages that are rude or aggressive don’t even make it past the politician’s aides. This means that the politician will never see it and your time will have been wasted.
Talk to your coworkers
Finally, take an active role in your workplace when it comes to policy lobbying. Not all nurses have the passion for protesting for or against regulations that you might. This means that they may be less inclined to research when votes are happening or who to contact in order to make a change. If you already have that information, then why not share it? It is likely that not all of your coworkers will be willing to engage with this kind of change, but that’s okay – those who do will be grateful for the heads-up.
Conclusion
If you are interested in making a change in public health policy, a quality nursing education is the best first step. Some programs even offer classes devoted to policy lobbying and how to achieve your goals in that area. Once you find the right one, you’ll be on your way to making a significant difference in the world in no time!
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