Discussion: Importance of Nurse Legislator’s Role in Advocacy

IMPORTANCE OF NURSE LEGISLATOR’S ROLE IN ADVOCACY
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Importance of Nurse Legislator’s Role in Advocacy
Constituting a vital part of the nurse leadership, nurse legislators play quite a crucial role in the improvement or enhancement of healthcare delivery. They are quite essential players in the field of nursing because they help streamline it by formulating and advancing certain policies that play an integral role in the same. Once they have formulated these policies, they then work hard to ensure that they go through, by engaging aggressively in the lobbying processes as well as advocacy. The U.S. leadership system has greatly improved from the days when a leader was chosen by a state body, to the present where they are chosen through popular vote. This has helped ensure that the views of the majority can be represented well in the echelons of leadership. Lauren Underwood is a person of interest, given her nursing advocacy within the levels of leadership, and her passion for it.
Lauren Underwood is a nurse legislator in the United States, and she is a United States representative at Illinois District 14. As a nurse legislator, she plays a significant role in patient advocacy, which helps to improve health care delivery. This is because, being in the government; she represents the voice of other nurses. Also, she has encouraged patients to come up with informed decisions concerning issues relating to their health. It brings to the fore the importance of nurses to engage in politics to some extent, since they are the only people who can advance the views of their fellow nurses as well as patients in a clear manner to help improve the field(O’Brien,2013). This is generally known as patient advocacy. The role of Lauren Underwood as a nurse legislator in patient advocacy is quite important.
Nurse advocates provide first-hand experience in what the field is all about, its challenges and the solutions that can be found through policy making (Nickitas, Middaugh & Aries, 201...