Post an explanation of at least two opportunities that currently exist for RNs and APRNs to actively participate in policy review.
The Role of the RN/APRN in Policy Evaluation
Some nurses may be hesitant to get involved with policy evaluation. The preference may be to focus on the care and well-being of their patients; some nurses may feel ill-equipped to enter the realm of policy and political activities. However, as you have examined previously, who better to advocate for patients and effective programs and polices than nurses? Already patient advocates in interactions with doctors and leadership, why not with government and regulatory agencies?
Post an explanation of at least two opportunities that currently exist for RNs and APRNs to actively participate in policy review. Explain some of the challenges that these opportunities may present and describe how you might overcome these challenges. Finally, recommend two strategies you might make to better advocate for or communicate the existence of these opportunities. Be specific and provide examples.
Expert Answer and Explanation
The Role of the RN/APRN in Policy Evaluation
Opportunities that Exist
Very often, some nurses to hesitate in policy evaluation roles, where they claim that their main attention should be focusing on the well-being of patients. However, it should be understood that taking care of patients starts from the point of making and implementing policies, and not only at the direct care operations (Shiramizu et al., 2017).
Nurses are more equipped than any other healthcare provider to become the advocates of patients and their health programs. RNs and APRNs have numerous opportunities for them to participate in policy reviews, and this allows proper participation in healthcare decisions.
The American Nurses Association (ANA) articulates for the principles of justice, respect for persons, beneficence, and many other code of ethics that show that nurses should be at the upper hand in advocating for policy change. According to Williams & Anderson (2018), pending revisions about the common rules of healthcare involve topics such as beneficence, respect for persons, use of human research subjects, omic technologies and many others.
Nurses are specially trained to use evidence in developing amicable decisions of healthcare (Williams & Anderson, 2018). Unlike most other healthcare givers, they can use evidence-based practice to improve omic research, to understand right concepts about decision making, privacy, equality, data security, and many more (Williams & Anderson, 2018).
Challenges Presented by these Opportunities
The main challenge in implementing these opportunities is the opposition from other players in healthcare. Nurses also have the capacity to address clinical gaps and focus on agency funding’s, making them crucial personalities in research centers quality assurance (Glasgow et al., 2003).
They also serve as a crucial bridge to the gap between practice and research, advocating for proper methodologies and documentation (Shiramizu et al., 2017). Hence, it is crucial that nurses, and not all other participants in healthcare, be involved in policy evaluation.
Overcoming the Challenges
It is necessary to perform routine education to physicians, clinicians, doctors, and other healthcare givers in order to make them understand and appreciate the contribution of nurses to healthcare policies. Reviewing the actions associated with policy making could also help solve these challenges.
References
Glasgow, R. E., Lichtenstein, E., & Marcus, A. C. (2003). Why don’t we see more translation of health promotion research to practice? Rethinking the efficacy-to-effectiveness transition. American journal of public health, 93(8), 1261-1267.
Shiramizu, B., Shambaugh, V., Petrovich, H., Seto, T. B., Ho, T., Mokuau, N., & Hedges, J. R. (2017). Leading by success: Impact of a clinical and translational research infrastructure program to address health inequities. Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities, 4(5), 983-991.
Williams, J. K., & Anderson, C. M. (2018). Omics research ethics considerations. Nursing outlook, 66(4), 386-393.
Alternative Answer
Two Opportunities that Currently Exist
Registered Nurses (RNs) and Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) play critical roles in helping advance nursing objectives. Certain key opportunities are available to nurses working in the roles of the RNs and APRNs. Advocacy is an example of the opportunity that is available to the nursing professionals based on these APRN and RN roles.
A nurse can take advantage of this opportunity by advocating for improved work conditions. Still, a nursing working in either of the two roles has an opportunity of becoming a leader of a medical facility (Joseph & Huber, 2015). As a leader, the nurse can make decisions including making policies to improve an organizational process.
Challenges which the Opportunities would present
While nurses can benefit by taking advantage of these opportunities, each opportunity presents challenges. For example, it can be difficult for the nurse to perform their advocacy role if they lack the support of the colleagues, and the organization they work for. This lack of support may derail the attainment of the aims which the advocacy seeks to realize (Nsiah, Siakwa, & Ninnoni, 2019). The challenge linked to the leadership opportunity is race-based discrimination.
Strategies for Communicating the Existence of the Opportunities
Certain strategies can help communicate the existence of the opportunities. Relying on the platforms such as seminars and nurse meetings, a nurse trying to realize advocacy objective would communicate why a certain change is necessary in health care. Another strategy involves the use of the nursing journals to sensitize nurses about the existence of these opportunities (Nsiah, Siakwa, & Ninnoni, 2019).
Ways of Overcoming the Challenges
It is possible to manage issues with advocacy and leadership opportunities. Involving nurses to participate in advocacy activities can be important in helping gain their support. It is important to train employees on the values of respect and cultural competency so that they can accept others to anyone to lead them irrespective of the individual’s racial background (Davoodvand, Abbaszadeh, & Ahmadi, 2016).
References
Davoodvand, S., Abbaszadeh, A., & Ahmadi, F. (2016). Patient Advocacy from the Clinical Nurses’ Viewpoint: A Qualitative Study. Journal of Medical Ethics And History Of Medicine, 9, 5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4958925/.
Joseph, M. L., & Huber, D. L. (2015). Clinical leadership development and education for nurses: prospects and opportunities. Journal of healthcare leadership, 7, 55–64. Doi: https://doi.org/10.2147/JHL.S68071.
Nsiah, C., Siakwa, M., & Ninnoni, J. (2019). Barriers to Practicing Patient Advocacy In Healthcare Setting. Nursing Open, 7(2), 650–659.Doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/nop2.436.
Nsiah, C., Siakwa, M., & Ninnoni, J. (2019). Registered Nurses’ description of patient advocacy in the clinical setting. Nursing open, 6(3), 1124–1132. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/nop2.307.
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