Advocate, Empower, Advance!
Leaders of twenty-two Ohio nursing organizations were welcomed by ANA-Ohio President Rebecca Patton, DNP, RN, CNOR, FAAN on November 22, 2024, at Capital University in Bexley, Ohio. Heather Janiszewski Goodin, PhD, RN, AHN-BC, CPN, Dean of Nursing and Professor of the Capital University School of Nursing hosted the event.
In keeping with the theme of the summit, Erin Keels, DNP, APRN-CNP, Ohio Board of Nursing (OBN) President, and Jack Brubaker, OBN Legislative Liaison, began the program by presenting “Inside the Ohio Board of Nursing: How Regulation, Advisory Committees, and Legislative Activity Safeguard Ohio Citizens, and Ohio Nursing Workforce.” Their presentation included a description of the five pillars of OBN, an overview of the legislative process, a discussion of the OBN advisory groups, an update on multi-state nursing licensure, and an overview of important legislative issues that the OBN is closely following.
Dr. Patton followed with the presentation “Engaging Ohio Nurses in Public Policy-From Invisible to Invaluable.” She shared the analysis of voting trends and the political affiliation of licensed nurses (LPNs, RNs, and APRNs) in Ohio for November 2020, 2022, and 2023 general elections. She pointed out that in Ohio in 2023, one in 32 persons of the voting-eligible population was a licensed nurse, and 1 in 51 registered voters in Ohio was an RN. The data showed that 11% never voted in any of the three general elections despite being registered to vote. At the opposite end of the continuum, nearly half of all licensed nurses (n=85,893, 47.7%) voted in all three general elections (Ludwick et al., 2024). Dr. Patton discussed ANA-Ohio initiatives to increase voting and advocacy involvement among Ohio RNs through the 2023 Hackathon, voting information, and encouraging participation in the 2025 Policy Influencer Bootcamp Attendees shared advocacy efforts within their own organizations and agreed on the importance of collaborating on issues of common interest and meeting with their legislators in their home offices.
As the final speaker, Jan Lanier, JD, RN, incorporated the theme Advocate, Empower, Advance into her presentation, “Getting to ‘Yes’: Creating Sustainable Nurse Policy Advocacy.” She discussed reasons that nurses shy away from legislative advocacy and identified collaborative, sustainable strategies that nursing organizations could utilize to attract and prepare nurses to participate more routinely and effectively in public policy advocacy. She discussed, in-depth, how the 2025 Policy Influencer Bootcamp can prepare nurses in advocacy efforts.
Dr. Patton closed the day by facilitating a discussion on how nursing organizations can collaborate on advocacy issues. Topics for the Spring Ohio Nursing Organizations Leadership Summit were generated through group discussion.
Reference
Ludwick, R. E., Zalon, M. L., Patton, R ., & Baughman K. R. (2024). Analysuis of Ohio nurses’ voting behaviors 2020-2023. Policy, Politics, and Nursing Practice. 15271554241298259. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/15271544241298259
Content of this article has been developed in collaboration with the referenced State Nursing Association.
