Purpose:

• To formulate written professional communication that advocates for a key nursing issue.
• To explore advocacy tools and resources for nurses
• To reflect on nursing leadership attributes and personal perspective r/t how each contributes to and influences healthcare policy, social justice, and professional nursing practice.

Goal: 

• To highlight the importance of nurse centered advocacy and identify that all nurses including students have a voice and expertise that is valued and can inspire change.

Outline of Project. 

Policy can seem overwhelming, challenging and a little intimidating; but nurses need to have a voice. I hope this introduction into the world of nursing advocacy will help you become more familiar with the process and strategies that can be employed to make even the smallest of influences. This Assignment is laid out in 3 Essential Parts (each and every part must be completed for credit be awarded). Make sure to use appropriate APA formatting (title page and references page). 

Detailed Outline of Each of the Assignment Parts

PART I: Legislative Representatives and Policies 

Students identify 2 House of Representatives and 2 Senators from the state of your choosing. Students then review 2 bills that are sponsored or co-sponsored by the selected state House of Representatives official(s) and 2 bills that are sponsored or co-sponsored by the selected Senate Representative(s) resulting in a description of 4 total bills (see outline below). Then the students will link these 4 bills to nursing, population, health and rational for choosing.  

PART 2: Writing a Letter to the Selected Representative

Students will write a persuasive letter to one of the chosen state Representatives identified in Part 1 regarding one of the selected 4 bills (from the 4; just chose 1) that the student feels will have the most impact with a rationale for choosing the selected bill. The letter will be written in a business/personal correspondence style including name, contact information and professional salutation for the receiving party (to whom it may concern is not acceptable). Zip codes for both the student and receiving party must be included to verify that letter is addressed to an appropriate elected official, who represents the student as a constituent. Students will need ensure recipient is the appropriate person for the bill/topic (state vs federal senator, representative, governor, etc.). The Florida Nurses Foundation: Legislative Resource Toolkit: on pg 11 format should be used and is provides you with the template. 

PART 3: Identify a Policy/Issue and Advocacy Strategy from a Selected Nursing Organization

Students will identify a nursing organization of their choice that has a policy advocacy section. Once the student has selected the organization, they will locate the section on advocacy and find their current legislative/advocacy agenda (most recent). There are several nursing organizations to choose from (these should be issues that are current and relevant)