The health care sphere’s effectiveness is strongly influenced by the state’s legislation. For instance, the law that establishes the minimum nurse-to-patient staffing ratio implemented in California significantly increases the quality of health care in hospitals (Aiken et al., 2010). We will describe some ways an ordinary nurse could influence the state’s legislation to improve the quality of health services.
The first step would be to join (or establish) a professional nursing organization (Abood, 2007, Ways to Advocate for Health section, para. 1). There are approximately 2.9 million RNs dispersed among the USA (Abood, 2007, The Potential Power of Numbers section, para. 1), so involving more colleagues in the issue is possible and would provide substantial support in achieving legislative results. Once the nurse is a member of a professional organization, it is easier to work with the media to get society’s attention to the issue (Abood, 2007, Ways to Advocate for Health section, para. 4). This work might include organizing press conferences, writing articles, inviting journalists to hospitals and giving interviews, or organizing demonstrations (which usually result in the media’s attention). Once the population is aware of the problem, it becomes interesting to various politicians and political parties, who will want to use the opportunity to get political scores and increase the number of votes they might get in the next elections (Abood, 2007, Reward Power section), in particular, by improving the legislation.
It is also a good idea to create (online) petitions and, once they have gained enough signatures, to send these appeals to legislators, especially to the “key players” such as party leaders, members of legislative committees, etc. (Abood, 2007, Knowing the Key Players section). Contacts with key players are important regardless of petitions (Abood, 2007, Understanding Committees section).
To sum up, the crux of the strategy would be to get society’s attention and make the politicians personally interested in improving the state’s legislation concerning the health care sphere.
References
Abood, S. (2007). Influencing health care in the legislative arena. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 12(1). Web.
Aiken, L. H., Sloane, D. M., Cimiotti, J. P., Clarke, S. P., Flynn, L., Seago, J. A.,…Smith, H. (2010). Implications of the California nurse staffing mandate for other states. Health Services Research, 45(4), 904-921.
Kasprak, J. (2004). California RN staffing ratio law. Web.