Letter to the Legislator (20 percent of final grade)

Assignment Information

This assignment provides you with the opportunity to use a specific political advocacy strategy: communication with a legislator via a letter. Expressing your support or lack of support for proposed legislation (bills) can be a powerful way to speak up about an issue. In this assignment, you will identify a proposed bill and voice your support for, or argument for not, passing that particular bill.

Completion of this assignment will demonstrate your achievement of the following course outcomes:

• describe the impact of health care policies on nursing practice and health care work environments to determine the financial and regulatory influences on patient care
• evaluate the political advocacy process to identify opportunities for nursing professional involvement
• delineate strategies that nurses can use to engage in advocacy for health care policy to support equity, access, affordability, and social justice for consumers and in support of the nursing profession

Assignment Guidelines

1. Select a piece of legislation proposed either in your state or at the national level.
   1. Go to www.Congress.gov to find a piece of national legislation
   2. Go to your state’s .gov site to find a piece of state legislation
2. Identify your state representative at the level of the bill—this will be either your state, House of Representatives, or Senate representative, depending on the bill that you selected.
3. Conduct a literature review to identify evidence pertaining to the issue addressed in the bill. Find at least three sources.
4. Develop a letter to send to your state legislator. This letter should integrate the evidence supporting your position. The following websites offer templates, examples, and/or guidelines for letters to legislators that you may want to consider.
   1. National Council of the State Boards of Nursing Template Letter to the Legislator https://www.ncsbn.org/APRN_formletter_Legislator_web.pdf
   2. How to write to your legislator: http://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/how-write-your-402285.html
   3. Purdue Owl: Writing the Basic Business Letter: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/professional_technical_writing/basic_business_letters/index.html

Grading Criteria

Follow these guidelines in writing your letter.

1. Write the letter in a business letter format.
2. Include the following:
   1. introduction of self and professional position
   2. overview of the bill you want to address
   3. clear argument in support of or not in support of the bill
   4. integration of evidence from scholarly literature to support your position
   5. legal name, credentials, and contact information
3. Proofread the letter so that it is free of grammatical, spelling, and syntax errors.

Test yourself on what you just learned. You’ll read a case study and answer questions based on it.

This self-assessment is ungraded; you can take it as many times as you like.

This activity aligns with:

Course Outcome ? 6. Delineate strategies that nurses can use to engage in advocacy for healthcare policy to support equity, access, affordability, and social justice for consumers and in support of the nursing profession.

AACN BSN Essential V.11: Participate as a nursing professional in political processes and grassroots legislative efforts to influence healthcare policy.

AACN BSN Essential V.12: Advocate for consumers and the nursing profession

AACN BSN Essential VII.12: Advocate for social justice, including a commitment to the health of vulnerable populations and the elimination of health disparities.

Week 6 Learning Resources

To access the readings, right-click the hyperlinks and open in a new tab:

Below are the required learning resources for this week.

Special Interest Groups by Nursing Specialty

Take time to review the special interest group which best aligns with your professional practice:

• National Association of Neonatal Nurses
• SPN Multiple Specialties
• International Society of Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurses
• Gerontological Advanced Practice Nurses Association
• Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates
• National Health and Health Care Special Interest Groups

Influencing Health Care in the Legislative Arena

As you read this article, consider how much nurses need to know about the political process in order to succeed in their advocacy efforts. What has this course taught you about this process, and how much more do you think you need to know?

• Alhassan, A., Kumi-Kyereme, A., Wombeggo, M., & Fuseini, A. (2019). Nurse participation in political activities: Level and practices of registered nurses in Tamale, Ghana. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing (OJIN), 24(2). Retrieved from https://ojin.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Vol-24-2019/No2-May-2019/Articles-Previous-Topics/Nurse-Participation-in-Political-Activities.html

The Responsibility to Advocate – and to Advocate Responsibly

As you read the following article, consider how you have used advocacy skills in working with individual patients and ponder what your role in political advocacy on a larger scale might entail.

• The Responsibility to Advocate—and to Advocate Responsibly.

Social Advocacy: A Call for Nursing Action

As you read this chapter entitled Social Justice, Nursing Advocacy, and Health Inequities: A Primary Health Care Perspective, consider the relationship between social justice and political advocacy and how social advocacy has evolved in nursing.

• https://books.google.com/books?id=gBEHDAAAQBAJ&lpg=PT98&ots=peDAnysXKq&dq=nursing%20social%20advocacy&lr&pg=PT98#v=onepage&q=nursing%20social%20advocacy&f=fals