Books on health policy and health reform: how is nursing represented?

The recent national debate on health care reform stimulated publication of a large number of books on the topic. A selected review of books published during the height of the health reform debate (1993 and 1994) is reported in this article. A total of 35 books written by authors from 13 different disciplinary perspectives were reviewed to determine how the nursing profession was represented in discussions of health system reform. The books were categorized according to title, author affiliation, purpose of the book, and the number and category of references to nursing. Seven categories of reference to nursing emerged from the analysis. Approximately on half of the books contained no references to nursing, 39 per cent had less than 10 references to nursing, and only four books had more than 10 references to nursing. The books with the greatest number of references were further analyzed and compared regarding thematic presentation of reform issues. A discussion of the importance of documentation of nursing in the health policy process, along with recommendations for improved dissemination of nursing perspectives for a redesigned health care system, is included.