In many cases, nurses can be viewed as lobbyists because they tend to represent the interests of patients and community members when lobbying for the improvement of services and practices. Furthermore, it is also possible to agree that nurses performing as lobbyists play an essential role in the advancement of the nursing profession. The reason is that those nurses who have an opportunity to lobby among other nurses and policymakers or legislators can significantly influence practices in healthcare settings (Mason et al., 2020). As a result, one should state that the quality of care provided to patients can increase considerably.
Nurses play an important role in networking with local and state policymakers, but it is also necessary to note that only a limited number of nurses can perform such roles. Thus, nurses as representatives of health care facilities and different nursing organizations can make a significant contribution to adopting effective health care policies and programs at local and state levels (Mason et al., 2020). In this context, nurses can effectively perform as not only lobbyists but also advocates, protecting community members’ interests. All these efforts made by concerned nurses in order to improve access to care and its quality in a specific community lead to the further development of nursing as a profession (Huston, 2019). The reason is that the activities and initiatives of individual nurse lobbyists will be supported in the future by the actions of other nurses, and the overall situation in a certain community can change positively. As a result, these nurses’ activities lead to creating more appropriate environments for the adoption of policies beneficial for the majority of medical workers and patients, as well as for disadvantaged groups.
References
Huston, C. J. (2019). Professional issues in nursing: Challenges and opportunities (5th ed.). Wolters Kluwer.
Mason, D. J., Gardner, D. B., Outlaw, F. H., & O’Grady, E. T. (2020). Policy & politics in nursing and health care (8th ed.). Elsevier Health Sciences.