Learning Activity 8:
Strategies for Political Action/Change
"The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers." - Ralph Nader
"The basic fact of today is the tremendous pace of change in human life." - Jawaharal Nehru
Overview
"Nurses maintain values that promote individualized patient care and collaboration among health care professionals. It is important that nurses are represented in the formation of health care policy and that these values, as well as nursing knowledge and expertise, are shared with politicians and reflected in quality health care legislation that is cost-effective. Nursing's active involvement in the molding of public policy through political commitment is a necessity; it is not enough to wait and see where legislation takes the profession and how changes in public policy will affect patients. If nurses do not become involved and employ a values-laden approach to politics, they have no power over their own future, and health care will suffer from their lack of participation.
Politics is viewed by most in a traditional manner, when in reality, politics involves many facets of everyday life, in addition to the legislative arena. The traditional approach to politics is reactive. Typically, people consider political action to be composed of lobbying, letter writing, voting, and other conventional means of influencing politicians and public policy initiatives. The nontraditional approach to politics is proactive. One component of proactive politics is public education regarding such issues as:
- preventive health care,
- staffing levels in hospitals,
- Medicare reimbursement issues, and
- the political structure of the health care system.
Nurses and the general public need to move past the assumption that traditional political approaches are the only way to influence public policy. Non-traditional approaches, such as professional practitioner visibility, membership on local school boards, and involvement in charitable organizations, are extremely effective methods of influencing public opinion regarding nursing's role at the community and national levels." (Des Jardin, 2001a).
Ends In View
This learning activity is intended to provide learners with the opportunity to:- Recognize the diverse arena of political action and involvement and nursing's place within it.
- Analyze the utility and appropriateness of non-traditional and traditional political activist methods.
- Appreciate the importance of nursing's active involvement with the development of public policies.
In Practice
1. Participate in class discussion related to political actions for nurses and nursing students.
2. How can nurses demonstrate political action outside of the conventional political arena?
3. des Jardin (2001a) wrote: "Nurses can increase their political power and have a greater effect on all levels of politics, from institutional to federal by using three elements of influence - communication, collectivity, and collegiality." In small groups, think of an example of using these three types of influence in BC.
4. Alice Baumgart listed various issues that impacted on nurses and political action, including:
- socialization
- structural
- sexism
- social norms and power distribution
- blocked opportunities
- tokenism
- public perception of nurses and nurse's work
In small groups brainstorm how nurses can work together to reduce the impact of these issues and improve their political influence.
5. How does the political action by nurses described by the CNA offer guidance to Canadian nurses?
In Reflection
1. Which political issue(s) do you personally feel motivated to influence?
References
Baumgart, A. (1999). Nurses and Political Action: The Legacy of Sexism. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research, 30 (4), p. 131 - 141.
Canadian Nurses Association. (2000). Nursing is a Political Act - The bigger picture. Nursing Now: Issues and Trends in Canadian Nursing, No. 8. May.
Des Jardin, K. E. (2001a). Political involvement in nursing - education and empowerment. AORN Journal, October. Part 1 of 2.
Des Jardin, K. E. (2001b). Political involvement in nursing - politics, ethics and strategic action. AORN Journal, November. Part 2 of 2.
O'Brien, T. (2002). Lean on me: Nurses discover they can win even Tory support with ads and actions - Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions. Briarpatch Magazine, July-August.
IN PREPARATION:
