Nurses are important advocates for patients and healthcare policy
Policy Advocacy Project: PART A
Policy Advocacy Project Overview: Nurses are important advocates for patients and healthcare policy. Policy makers rely on our knowledge and expertise to help make decisions that influence healthcare delivery. For this Policy Advocacy Project, you will need to identify a topic of legislation that is important to you. You will need to choose an elected official from your district, state, etc. to meet with to advocate for your selected topic.
The project contains two parts that you will submit for grading, the proposal and the report.
• Part A, the proposal, you will explain the legislation you have selected to advocate for and identify the appropriate elected official (or staff member) with whom you will speak.
• Part B, the report, you will summarize the meeting that you held with the elected official.
Part A: Proposal Directions PSLOs 1, 4, 5, 7; CSLOs: 1, 5
• Identify an appropriate topic of legislation that you would like to advocate.
• Describe the proposed topic of legislation.
• Explain why you think the topic of legislation is important or relevant.
• Identify an elected official or staff member whom you plan on contacting to advocate for this legislation and justify why this person is a suitable target audience.
• Present information in a scholarly manner including skillful and proficient writing using appropriate spelling, grammar, punctuation and mechanics, and APA style and formatting of the title page, appropriate in-text reference citations, and reference page.
• The proposal (Part A) should be approximately 100-200 words in length.
Please keep in mind:
• You are advocating for pending topics of legislation. You cannot choose something that has already passed because if that is the case, no advocacy is necessary.
• You must specify the exact topic of legislation in your proposal. You must refer to this by the appropriate title. For example: Title VIII funding, H. R. 952, etc.
• The elected official you contact must have the authority to vote for the proposed topic of legislation.
The mayor of a city would have no legislative authority and therefore would not be appropriate. You are most likely going to contact a state or federal member of congress (House or Senate).
Policy Advocacy Project – PART B: Report
PSLOs 1, 4, 5, 7; CSLOs: 1, 5
Directions: Arrange a meeting and speak with the elected official or staff member that you identified in the Policy Advocacy Project (Part A): Proposal to advocate for the legislation you selected. Make sure to complete all the requirements specified in this assignment.
The Meeting
• Meet with the elected official or staff member to discuss the legislation.
• Do not mention that you are a student or that you have arranged this visit as part of a course requirement.
The Report
Write a report of your visit and include all the items listed below.
1. Include the exact name of the elected official or staff member whose office you visited and the person with whom you spoke.
2. Indicate whether the elected official or staff member was familiar with the legislation.
3. Describe how you conveyed your issue in the meeting. Summarize the topic and how you presented the topic, including what facts or supporting information that you provided. Once you lay out the issue, you should ask for the legislator’s support.
4. Summarize the elected official’s or staff member ‘s response to the your request; namely, will the legislator provide the requested support or not? If not, why not? If the individual can support your position, you should elaborate why he or she was so enthusiastic about showing support (so that we might convey that enthusiasm to other less enlightened legislators).
5. Describe how the meeting ended. Was there additional information that you needed to send the elected official or staff member?
6. Summarize the elected official’s or staff member’s demeanor. Was he or she cordial, merely civil, barely engaged, etc.? In other words, despite your anxiety about the meeting (which is common for most nurses), did the individual seem agreeable to having the discussion? For example, did he or she:
• Seem interested in the topic?
• Ask good questions?
• Seem candid about their position or remain noncommittal?
• Seem pleasant, easy to talk to versus merely civil versus confrontational?
• Relate any experiences that contributed to his or her understanding about the topic (e.g., has a family member in one of the health professions or some other relevant personal experience). If so, did these experiences help the individual to support your request or did it have the opposite effect?
7. Present information in a scholarly manner including skillful and proficient writing using appropriate spelling, grammar, punctuation and mechanics, and APA style and formatting of the title page, appropriate in-text reference citations, and reference page.
8. No more than 2-3 double spaced pages (NOT including the title page, references, and thank you e-mail).
9. Thank-you email – Send a thank-you email that briefly summarizes the bill number and the issue discussed at the meeting and also attach letter upon submission of assignment. The letter must be written in a professional manner, including your full contact information (address, phone, and e-mail) and the elected official’s or staff member’s full mailing address.
Paper Format: APA
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