Concept Paper: Nurses' influence on healthcare policy

Clariza P. Marcelino
Isabela State University (Echague Campus)
BS Nursing

Course Code: 412 Nursing Leadership and Management

Angelito E. Alvarado, PhDNS, PhD, MSN, MAED, LPT, RN

10/01/2022
 Concept Paper: Nurses' influence on healthcare policy

1. Introduction of the concept

The proportion of health care workers, who are nurses, contribute to the
improvement of the health systems. It is obvious that nurses play a role in determining
health policy, yet few nurses participate in the process, even in a clinical setting. The
current systematic review's objective was to pinpoint the variables that affect nurses'
participation in the formulation of health policy.

2. Background research

In rapidly changing health systems, nurses make up the majority of the medical
personnel and are primarily responsible for providing patients with high-quality care.
The political, environmental, technological, and financial restrictions on healthcare
systems have an effect on all practical circumstances. By increasing their positions
and duties in healthcare management, all personnel, notably nursing staff, may gain
from these advancements. Giving nurses incentives to take part in the creation of
health policies is crucial. For instance, nurses' experiences can have an impact on the
laws, rules, and regulations that govern the healthcare system. Nursing personnel is
urged to participate in health policy for three reasons. First, since nurses frequently
interact with patients and their families in a variety of contexts, it is possible to view
their perspectives as valuable resources for formulating policy. Second, different
health policies have an immediate effect on nurses. Therefore, laws ought to ensure a
pleasant working atmosphere. Third, nurses are crucial for professional growth and
can significantly contribute to the establishment of appropriate and successful health
policy. The World Health Organization (WHO) describes health policies as decisions,
plans, and actions taken to achieve certain healthcare goals within a society. WHO
also emphasized the need for these sectors' decisions to be sensitive to and responsive
to the issue of health because health policy and practice require activity from all
sectors. The main goal of health initiatives is to advance public well-being.
Conception, execution, and reformation are the three stages that the policy goes
through. To improve the safety and standards of healthcare, nurses must use health
policy as a tool.

3. Objectives

The nurses must acquire professional and educational experience in order to become
proficient in this kind of decision-making. this paper talks about how nursing affects
health care policy, the role of nurse practitioners, and how nurses can use their
expertise and education to advance their careers.

4. Aim of the study

Nurses political knowledge, effective communication, and coordination with other

members of the health team, nurses can influence health-related decisions and affairs,
which improves the working conditions for nurses and improves patient outcomes.
The effect of nurses on health policy safeguards the standard of treatment by
providing access to necessary resources and opportunities.
Concept Paper: Nurses' influence on healthcare policy
 5. Materials and methods

This paper looked for factors influencing nurses' involvement in health policy making
in this systematic review. Over time, the effective elements evolve and change. The
results of the current analysis showed that one of the main reasons nurses don't
participate in health policy making is a lack of information about it. The results also
showed that the nurses' participation in health policy making is hampered by a lack of
knowledge and expertise in policy evaluation as well as a lack of understanding of the
standards for formulating health policy. Future research should look at how effective
variables and nurses' involvement in policy making relate to needs and potential areas
for development. Leadership and political acumen are advised in order to improve
nurses' involvement in health policy-making processes. Future research should also
look at how the factors gleaned from the studies may affect nursing roles.

6. Conclusion

Because nurses' roles can be directly impacted by various health policies in the
systems that provide healthcare, they must participate more in the development of
health policies. Concerns from WHO and ICN have arisen as a result of nurses' lack
of participation in policy making. The ongoing promotion of health services includes
improving nurses' capacity to engage in policy-making activities. By putting more
emphasis on enhancing health policy education and facilitator competency, as well as
by removing obstacles like a lack of resources and abilities, the amount of nurses'
participation in policy-making processes can be increased. By focusing on the
approaches to increase nurses' involvement in policy making, we were able to
pinpoint the influencing elements that do so in this review. The results of this study
and the framework that was created can effectively enable nurses to play an active
part in shaping the future by engaging in policy-making activities. Additionally, the
factors that were collected from this analysis and even more can put nurses in a good
position and make them potential change agents for how policies are made.
 Concept Paper: Nurses' influence on healthcare policy

7. References

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
287431150_Universal_Health_Care_in_the_Philippines

https://online.regiscollege.edu/blog/how-does-nursing-influence-health-care-policy/

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263289998_Nurses
%27_policy_influence_A_concept_analysis

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24949073/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8273557/