Introduction
Nurses are some of the professionals who play a leading role in the success of the health sector. There are nursing professionals in every community because of their relevant role (Marć et al., 2018). In this case, it is common to find nurses playing small to prominent positions in the health sector and the community. Nurses provide expert care from when people are born to the end of life (Leahy-Warren et al., 2018). Although many professionals play leading roles in the healthcare sector, nurses play a relevant role in policy direction, and the right course to increase participation is necessary.
Role of Nurses in Health Policy
It is relevant for all nurses to enhance their professional skills to improve service delivery to patients. In this case, nursing professionals must develop and propose new healthcare policies before implementing them (Leahy-Warren et al., 2018). Therefore, this demonstrates that healthcare professionals need to be at the forefront of ensuring a proper policy framework for improving services among clients. Nurses can gain immense skills through detailed policy research, ensuring that they are accepted and become well-informed in cases that matter. Such nurses will also gain recognition as healthcare practitioners with advocacy and policy skills.
Nurses must participate in health policy decisions to make some meaningful impact on the health sector. Therefore, nurses worldwide need to ensure that they are at the right place at the decision-making table regarding health policy (Marć et al., 2018). For nurses to change how the present health sector operates, they need to be at the decision table to be involved in healthcare policy. In such a case, it will ensure that they become fully engaged in reform and consultations (Lewinski & Simmons, 2018). However, professionals must have the requisite attitudes, skills, and knowledge. This will assist their motivation in the involvement of healthcare policy.
Identifying a Course of Action for Nursing Professionals to Enhance Involvement
Nursing professionals need to have a course of action to make meaningful changes in policy decisions within the healthcare sector. In this case, it is relevant for nurses to take the necessary steps and have an implementation guide that will serve as a formula for change (Marć et al., 2018). The actions that nurse need to take should involve collaboration and communication related to patient safety. The first step for nurses to increase involvement should be to create a change team in the place of work (Leahy-Warren et al., 2018). Such a team will have the primary objective of assembling staff members and team leaders with the motivation, credibility, expertise, and authority to drive a policy initiative.
Selecting a multidisciplinary or multi-sectoral team is vital for the change initiative. Once the unit is set, the nurse should ensure that the right tools and resources for policy initiative are available. When the change team has the right tools and resources, the focus should be enhancing processes and programs within the clinical workplace (Lewinski & Simmons, 2018). In addition, team training is vital because it will help all the members understand their mandate and what they should do within the policy framework. There is also the need for the nurse to define the opportunity or the problem for improvement.
Conclusion
In conclusion, nurses play a leading role in healthcare policy as they understand most issues facing the healthcare environment. In this case, nurses provide mentorship and training to those working in the sector to enhance service delivery (Leahy-Warren et al., 2018). In addition, there is an action plan that nurses always use to drive the need for a healthcare policy framework. Therefore, they need to plan and have an implementation guide that will help them to have the policy framework in place. Creating a change team is very necessary because it will help implement the changes required for the policy to work.
References
Leahy-Warren, P., Varghese, V., Day, M. R., & Curtin, M. (2018). Physical restraint: Perceptions of nurse managers, registered nurses and Healthcare assistants. International Nursing Review, 65(3), 327–335. Web.
Lewinski, A. A., & Simmons, L. A. (2018). Nurse knowledge and engagement in health policy making: Findings from a pilot study. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 49(9), 407–415. Web.
Marć, M., Bartosiewicz, A., Burzyńska, J., Chmiel, Z., & Januszewicz, P. (2018). A nursing shortage – a prospect of global and local policies. International Nursing Review, 66(1), 9–16. Web.