Introduction
Current policies on vaccination in Florida need to be improved so that it is ensured that people are not widely deprived of this specific aspect of access to proper health care. The legislation suggests that individuals may refuse to be vaccinated based on their personal beliefs (e.g., religious), and parents and caregivers can similarly decide not to have their children vaccinated on the same basis (Diekema, 2014). However, it has been confirmed that such individual decisions may endanger entire communities (Gostin, 2015), which is why the right to refuse to receive vaccination should be restricted on the legislative level. Senator Rodriguez, a legislator in the state of Florida (The Florida Senate, 2017), can be contacted with this proposal. To make sure that the visit will be effective, it is necessary to present empirical evidence of the need for the change to the Senator and discuss specific examples of impacts of such visits.
Empirical Evidence
The communication strategy to be adopted during the visit is the evidence-based presentation of goals and objectives. Relevant research findings should be presented to the Senator to convince him that the issue is, in fact, relevant; for example, the studies by Diekema (2014) and Gostin (2015) can be used. Further, it is necessary to state the goal of the proposed change: to improve safety and proper preventive health care on the community level. However, it needs to be ensured that the presentation is not too general and not problem-centered, but solution-centered. For this, the presenter should be specific (Kostas-Polston, Thanavaro, Arvidson, & Taub, 2015); e.g., by explaining that the proposed solution, apart from raising awareness, is making vaccination against certain dangerous diseases mandatory. An important element of this strategy is referring to communities and stressing that individual decisions should not undermine entire populations’ proper health care protection.
Specific Examples
Further, to plan the visit, it is necessary to consider specific examples of the impact of visits to legislators. Maryland and Gonzalez (2012) discuss several such examples: nurses can initiate and promote positive change in terms of health care funding and drug costs, availability of certain health care services, education regulations, and scope of practice. In all these examples, it is important that nurses also act as researchers. Whatever their initiative is, they should first collect primary or secondary data (or both) that would confirm the need for change and the potential effectiveness of the proposed legislative measures. Also, it is crucial for nurses who promote legislative changes to cooperate. Maryland and Gonzalez (2012) stress that “[i]t is important for nurses to be sure that they’ve established coalitions in support of their proposed legislation well in advance of even seeking support from a member of the House or Senate” (para. 26). The cooperative approach to contacting legislators is, therefore, more likely to lead to positive impacts of such visits.
Conclusion
To convince Senator Rodriguez and gain his support in the promotion of legislative changes, it is necessary to commit to the evidence-based communication strategy. Acting as a researcher collecting and analyzing relevant data, a nurse is more likely to deliver an effective presentation to the legislator. It is also important that the presentation is solution-centered (as opposed to problem-centered) and supported by a coalition of nurses (as opposed to an individual presenter). If the visit is properly planned, the proposed legislative initiative can turn into a bill and potentially a new state law.
References
Diekema, D. S. (2014). Personal belief exemptions from school vaccination requirements. Annual Review of Public Health, 35(1), 275-292.
The Florida Senate. (2017). Senator Rodriguez.
Gostin, L. O. (2015). Law, ethics, and public health in the vaccination debates: Politics of the measles outbreak. Jama, 313(11), 1099-1100.
Kostas-Polston, E. A., Thanavaro, J., Arvidson, C., & Taub, L. F. M. (2015). Advanced practice nursing: Shaping health through policy. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 27(1), 11-20.
Maryland, M. A., & Gonzalez, R. I. (2012). Patient advocacy in the community and legislative arena. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 17(1).