Nursing and health policy.

Area of Science:

• Health Policy
• Nursing Practice
• Qualitative Research

Background:

• Nurses play a crucial role in advocating for patient needs within the health policy arena.
• Understanding the effectiveness of nurses in health policy development is essential for improving healthcare systems.
• Current literature lacks comprehensive insights into nurses' contributions and challenges in policy-making.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the effectiveness of nurses in health policy development in the United States.
• To identify factors influencing nurses' engagement and impact in the policy arena.
• To provide actionable information for enhancing nursing's role in health policy.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative examination of career experiences and observations.
• Purposive sampling of 27 American nurses active in health policy.
• Semi-structured interviews exploring career paths and available resources.

Main Results:

• Nurses actively participate in policy by voicing patient needs where individuals have limited influence.
• Nurses' belief in self-care and their presentation of health/illness determinants influenced policymakers.
• Policy involvement was sustained by engaged nurses, though research integration was minimal.

Conclusions:

• Nurses remain committed to policy work once involved, demonstrating a persistent dedication to advocacy.
• A significant gap exists in the utilization of nursing research and scholarly information by nurse policymakers.
• Developing systems to connect nurse policymakers with nurse scholars is recommended to enhance evidence-based policy.