YNP Member Experience
Tales from the American Nurse Advocacy Institute ( ANAI )
Nursing is a life-long learning profession . We must be prepared to continue to learn as the healthcare environment is ever changing . Learning encompasses not only best practices and evidence-based medicine , but also learning how to advocate for our patients , our profession , and healthcare in general . Advocating for the profession can occur in many settings .
Caroline Toomey , BSN , RN Ashley Homer , BSN , RN
YNP Philadelphia
This past October , we had the opportunity to meet nurses from around the country in Washington D . C . at the American Nurse Advocacy Institute ( ANAI ). We attended various sessions that provided a great insight into how politics affects both policy making and the nursing profession . Some of the sessions included learning about how to communicate effectively with legislators and their staff , learning about digital advocacy , and conducting a political environmental scan . We were engaged in understanding how legislators and their staff process healthcare information and why it is important for nursing to have a voice on healthcare topics .
During our visits on Capitol Hill , we had the opportunity to advocate for the nursing profession . Two specific topics that impact nursing are Title VII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act , which provides funding for nursing education , and the Home Health Care Planning Improvement Act , which supports utilizing Advanced Practice Nurses in veteran ’ s healthcare to provide better access to providers . Both topics have bills introduced in Congress and have some support , but they are not yet laws . We met with a staffer from a representative from Florida and staffers from a senator from Louisiana to provide critical support of these bills . While we did not have the opportunity to meet with Pennsylvania lawmakers or their staffers , we did stop by their offices and were warmly greeted by their office staff . We learned valuable lessons in how to best prepare for meetings on Capitol Hill .
We hope to use our ANAI experience to help PSNA support both nurses and nursing legislation initiatives in Pennsylvania . Our focus will be on the larger topic of the opioid crisis and epidemic in Pennsylvania . We are taking an approach to look at the impact of drug use and addiction on children and families in Pennsylvania . We look forward to working with PSNA staff to further define our project and understand Pennsylvania ’ s political scene .