Nurses are resources and educators to local legislators. Since it is a citizen led legislature, representatives can be pizza shop owners, lawyers, tech professionals or of any trade/profession and may know nothing about nursing. It is imperative that nurses have the ability and confidence to discuss and educate these representatives on the work of nurses and issues of importance to nursing and the public.

Therefore, speaking with local representatives requires some background knowledge. The ANA and your state’s professional nursing association such as the Florida Nurses Association, has many resources for the nurse when it comes to legislative advocacy. Having the support and knowledge of these issues is crucial.

Please review the educational resources located under the Week 8 Content Area to assist and guide you for this discussion. Then, complete and submit the following:

1. Choose a health or nursing related issue or area of concern in your community or state. This could include health concerns, environmental issues, nursing issues, or legislation of importance to nurses and the public.

2. Research the issue or bill and create an “elevator speech” or “pitch” of the issue (how it relates to the nursing profession, patient outcomes, and your support or nursing’s support for, or against, the issue.  Your “pitch” should be long enough to get your point across and include statements of evidence (about one minutes in length).

3. Find your local representatives and identify the committees they serve on, especially committees that are about healthcare and health policy.

In your discussion question response, present the issue and associated legislation (if applicable), the population affected, and possible strategies where nurses can have the greatest impact. Include your elevator speech and the local representative(s) you would present your elevator speech to. Better yet, video your speech right in this discussion! Don’t forget to reference any sources of your research. You will still need a scholarly nursing journal article per the discussion rubric.

So your post should look like this (Example)

Professor and Class:

The issue I chose to address is … ([present the issue and associated legislation (if applicable), the population affected, and possible strategies where nurses can have the greatest impact. This is where your text and journal article will be included].

My elevator speech:

Dear Congressman Smith,

I am writing to you today about Senate Bill ….. {make sure you present the bill or issue and make it clear what you want them to do like support a bill or vote no or provide more funding for the issue].

Here are some resources to get you started:

-American Nurses Association (ANA) Policy and Advocacy. Here you can find state legislative issues the ANA is promoting across the country.

http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/Policy-Advocacy

-American Nurses Association

RNAction.org

 Here you can see all the current issues and action center information

-Florida Nurses Association-Advocacy

https://www.floridanurse.org/page/Advocacy