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Use of Media in Promoting Policy Change
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Use of Media in Promoting Policy Change
The American Nurses Association (ANA) is a professional organization that uses media.
ANA uses media platforms to educate, raise awareness, and promote healthcare policy agendas.
They use the media to promote policy agendas such as health equity, racial equity, prevention of
workplace violence, and health disparities (ANA, 2019). ANA publishes articles containing
opinions on health equity. Those articles show examples of workplace violence, allowing other
nurses to identify such issues (Sharpnack, 2022). ANA uses social media such as Facebook,
Twitter, and Instagram to engage with nurses and their patients by allowing them to share
opinions and experiences. The attributes of ANA's use of the media are engagement with the
nurses and the public and sharing experiences and opinions on policies regarding workplace
environments. Again, using media is advantageous as individuals get a visual representation of
the issue.
Moreover, ANA uses email to campaign for policy changes. The organization emails its
nurses to alert them of health agendas, such as workplace violence, so that they may
communicate with their legislators about crucial issues. Some attributes of using email are
personalized messages with targeted messages and easier ways to contact their legislators.
However, ANA has shown little success in using media to promote health policy agendas to the
nurses, as some media platforms do not offer full engagement (Sharpnack, 2022). The
organization might fail to hear nurses' opinions, especially those of underrepresented patients.
Another disadvantage is that ANA may fail to measure the effectiveness of the media campaigns
in policy changes. Using the media may result in misinformation; hence, promoting health policy
agendas such as health equity and violence in workplaces might be difficult.
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References
ANA. (2019, October 14). Health policy - American Nurses Association (ANA).
https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/health-policy/
Sharpnack, P. (2022). Overview and summary: Nurses’ impact on advocacy and policy. OJIN:
The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 27(2).
https://doi.org/10.3912/ojin.vol27no02manos
