The name of the seminar that I have recently visited was Making Your Message Count. The theme of the seminar was related to healthcare reforms with the main focus on the “importance of sending a collective message to legislators when advocating for the profession”. The seminar was held at Jonas Center for Nursing Excellence. The main speakers were Darlene Curley, MS, RN Executive Director at Jonas Center for Nursing Excellence. The second speaker was Suzanne Miyamoto, Ph.D., RN Director of Government Affairs American Association of Colleges of Nursing. The main areas in the focus of this seminar were innovation, scholarship, and leadership, these areas were also included in the 2012 AACN Student Policy Summit (Goldstein, 2006).
The speakers’ main topic was related to the advocacy of the profession of nursing and the improvement of health care reforms. The speakers presented and estimated the importance of the advocacy theories. They made use of the advocacy theories to persuade Congress members presented at the seminar to favor their request (Kollman, 2008). They were to hire professional lobbyists who had access to legislators and offer important data on legislation. The group had to choose a member of Congress who was likely to listen and respond.
Another topic discussed during the seminar was the advocating of the health care reforms. The speakers were prepared to do individual advocacy and coalitions in advocating major reforms in health care. They were to use Nursing Community which was an organized group consisting of nursing leaders (Shaw, 2010). The Nursing Community was to send a letter to congressional representatives urging them to respond to reforms of health care. Their main goals were to advocate for increased access to health care, reduce costs and improve the quality of health care.
A strategy that was worth attention was to use interest groups in advocating the profession of nursing. The effectualness of this strategy was supported by the fact that the speakers accessed information from their constituents and that has provided a good basis for persuading legislators. Furthermore, Congress members could pay attention to the group members because they were registered voters in his/her constitution (Tversky, 2008). It is worth mentioning that small groups are better to use because they have lower operational costs. In addition, nursing coalitions represent the voice of the coming changes and reforms that have been not made since the introduction of Medicaid and Medicare in 1965.
Finally, the webinar presented the realities of nursing.
This strategy was implemented in order
to attract interest to the healthcare reforms and outline the main benefits that strong leaders and unity of collective action can contribute to this area, which can bring positive changes that are urgently needed. Some leaders in Washington suggested that nurses were supposed to be educated and mentored to become “the nurse policy activists of the future” (Milstead, 2009).
In conclusion, Nursing Organizations Alliance was formed in 2002. However, the workshop continues today and its main aim is to educate nurses regarding policies. In addition, it should be mentioned that the greater the number of nurses, the stronger influence nurse students and faculty can have on the health care reforms and policies in the coming years. And thus, in this historical period, the main call for nursing is to be involved in the process of improvement of the healthcare reforms nationwide.
References
Goldstein, K.M. (2006). Interest Groups, Lobbying, and Participation in America. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Kollman, K. (2008). Outside Lobbying. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Milstead, J. (2009). Health Policy and Politics. New York: Cambridge Press.
Shaw, R. (2010). A primer: The activist’s handbook. Berkeley: University California Press.
Tversky, A. (2009). The framing decisions and the psychology of choice. New York: Cambridge Press.