THE ROLE OF THE RN/APRN IN POLICY EVALUATION

In the Module 4 Discussion, you considered how professional nurses can become involved in policy-making. A critical component of any policy design is evaluation of the results. How comfortable are you with the thought of becoming involved with such matters?

Some nurses may be hesitant to get involved with policy evaluation. The preference may be to focus on the care and well-being of their patients; some nurses may feel ill-equipped to enter the realm of policy and political activities. However, as you have examined previously, who better to advocate for patients and effective programs and polices than nurses? Already patient advocates in interactions with doctors and leadership, why not with government and regulatory agencies?

In this Discussion, you will reflect on the role of professional nurses in policy evaluation.

RESOURCES

Be sure to review the Learning Resources before completing this activity. Click the weekly resources link to access the resources.

WEEKLY RESOURCES

To Prepare:

In the Module 4 Discussion, you considered how professional nurses can become involved in policy-making.

Review the Resources and reflect on the role of professional nurses in policy evaluation.

BY DAY 3 OF WEEK 9

Select an existing healthcare program or policy evaluation or choose one of interest to you.

Review community, state, or federal policy evaluation and reflect on the criteria used to measure the effectiveness of the program or policy described.

Post an evaluation topic and a brief description of the evaluation. Discuss how social determinants impact this issue.

BY DAY 6 OF WEEK 9

Respond to at least two of your colleagues * on two different days by suggesting additional opportunities or recommendations for overcoming the challenges described by your colleagues.

*Note: Throughout this program, your fellow students are referred to as colleagues.

LEARNING RESOURCES

Required Readings

Milstead, J. A., & Short, N. M. (2019). Health policy and politics: A nurse’s guide (6th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Chapter 7, Health Policy and Social Program Evaluation (pp. 116124 only)

Glasgow, R. E., Lichtenstein, E., & Marcus, A. C. (2003). Why dont we see more translation of health promotion research to practice? Rethinking the efficacy-to-effectiveness transitionLinks to an external site. . American Journal of Public Health, 93(8), 12611267.

Shiramizu, B., Shambaugh, V., Petrovich, H., Seto, T. B., Ho, T., Mokuau, N., & Hedges, J. R. (2016). Leading by success: Impact of a clinical and translational research infrastructure program to address health inequitiesLinks to an external site. . Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 4(5), 983991.

Williams, J. K., & Anderson, C. M. (2018). Omics research ethics considerationsLinks to an external site. . Nursing Outlook, 66(4), 386393.

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