Factors that impact registered nurses’ ability to influence national government health policy

Introduction

Nurses are an integral element of healthcare that focuses not just on the treatment of the ill in numerous different settings but also on families and the community. Nurses cooperate with other health team members to promote health, and prevent sickness, for the treatment of sick, handicapped, and dying individuals. Nurses are also responsible for advocacy, Nurses also advocate and promote a safe environment, perform research, and engage in policy and legislation making for the benefit of healthcare workers according to the International Council of Nurses (ICN), 2002.

Purpose

It is the goal of this debate to identify and explain the elements that influence nurses’ involvement in the policy-making process.

Background

There are more nurses in the healthcare system than any other type of healthcare worker.

Quality patient care is also the responsibility of nurses, as mentioned by Kunaviktikul and others (2010). Many health policies have an effect on nursing as well as healthcare. Affordability, quality, accessibility, and safety are all addressed through enacting regulations.

Politics, the environment, and finances are just a few of the many influences on health policymaking. Health Policy Health policies, as defined by the World Health Organization, are a set of coordinated efforts aimed at achieving a certain, shared objective (WHO). According to Shariff, a country’s health policy is inextricably linked to its health department (2014). The primary objective of public health policy is to ensure the health as well as well-being of the general population. It is very important to remember that health policy is a three-step process: development,

implementation, and reformation (Ellenbecker & Edward, 2016). Nurses and other healthcare professionals use health policy, as Hall-Long described it in 2009, to ensure patient safety and high-quality treatment for all members of the healthcare team. Influencing policies, rules, and regulations is an important  role for nurses who have first-hand knowledge of how to execute policies for the greater good of healthcare and of patients.

Those in the medical field, in particular. First, nurses are the first face of the health team when it comes to dealing with patients and their families, thus it is essential for them to be included in the policy-making process. Additionally, nurses are more directly impacted by health policy than any other member of the healthcare team. Government health policies are designed to improve the well- being of the people while ensuring that the government has enough money to meet its obligations.