Nurses are uniquely qualified for public service.
Nurses have a unique status in our healthcare system and our nation. Ranked in public opinion polls for 22 consecutive years as the most trusted profession we occupy rarified territory in a world teeming with distrust and discord. From this esteemed position we have the power, privilege, and indeed, responsibility, to advance the health and well-being of our patients and effect positive change in our workplaces, profession, and society.
Our vantage point of providing care to patients when they’re most vulnerable also gives us deep insights into the barriers that affect their ability to live long and happy lives, as healthily as possible. The nursing process calls us, patient-by-patient, to continually assess, diagnose, set goals, implement, evaluate, and adjust as needed. To do this effectively, we listen carefully to our patients, understanding their goals, needs, fears, and triumphs. We advocate for them, their families, and communities with civility and respect, recognizing the inherent dignity and worth of all. This ingrained aspect of our practice prepares us to serve in and engage with our communities and society beyond direct patient care.
An immediate type of engagement on the minds of many right now is voting. In this era of rancor and stalemate, the impulse to “tune it out” is real. However, local, state, and federal policies and regulations affect individual nurses, the nursing profession, and our patients. When we don’t weigh in, others with less insight will have more sway than we do over key nursing issues.
The American Nurses Association (ANA) has compiled a comparison of U.S. presidential candidates’ positions on priority nursing issues at tinyurl.com/47nmzppx. RNAction details ANA’s positions on these and other matters. I encourage all nurses to learn how laws and policies affect how we practice (rnaction.org).
Some nurses may feel inclined to go beyond voting and run for public office. We need more nurses to do so—not only because our knowledge, skills, and broad-based experience qualify us, but also because our already modest numbers in legislative seats nationwide have declined by at least 25% in recent years (tinyurl.com/36jphyyy).
Fortunately, nurses with an interest in this type of civic engagement have a phenomenal resource to call upon, Healing Politics (healing-politics.org/). This nonpartisan organization runs an annual 3-day campaign school for nurses and midwives to learn the ins-and-outs of campaign planning, budgeting, messaging, and the like. Both ANA and the American Nurses Foundation (the Foundation) support this vital effort.
Nurses interested in lending their formidable expertise can also turn to the Nurses on Boards Coalition (NOBC), which ANA and the Foundation support (nursesonboardscoalition.org). With a mission to improve the health of communities through the service of nurses on boards and other bodies, NOBC offers extensive resources for nurses to consider and position themselves for board service. In addition, the organization maintains a national database of qualified board candidates.
Not everyone has the interest or bandwidth to run for office or serve on a board—understood. But we can and should educate ourselves on key issues, vote, and use our nursing sensibility to engage in conversation with fellow citizens to find common ground and a path forward on complicated issues. The Tri-Council for Nursing, to which ANA belongs, notes that when nurses speak healthcare changes for the better tinyurl.com/3dk8sv5b.
The work of healing our country from division and malice and achieving diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and accessibility for all is long and arduous. Nurses, so trusted and qualified, have the power and influence to make it happen.
Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, PhD, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN,
President, American Nurses Association
American Nurse Journal. 2024; 19(9). Doi: 10.51256/ANJ092420
